United Nations Emergency Force

The United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) was a United Nations peacekeeping mission involving Canadians. When a second force was deployed to the region after this mission's completion, it became referred to as "UNEF I" with the second mission referred to as "UNEF II", though they are also distinguished by the names "United Nations Emergency Force, Egypt" and "United Nations Emergency Force, Middle East" respectively.

UN Mandate

In Oct 1956, Israel, Britain and France moved military forces into the Suez Canal zone to secure the canal. Through the efforts of Canada's External Affairs Minister, Lester B. Pearson, the UN General Assembly agreed to its first peacekeeping force to secure peace in the region (previous operations had been only observer forces). Under the command of a Canadian, MGen Eedson Louis Millard Burns, 0C, DSO OBE MC, the UNEF, on 7 Nov 1956, was given a mandate to secure the removal of Israeli, British and French troops from the canal zone and the Gaza Strip and to maintain peace in the area. The first Canadian troops arrived in Egypt on 24 Nov 1956, and Egypt abruptly asked them to leave in May 1967. The six-day war between Israel and Egypt followed.

Thirty-two Canadians lost their lives serving with this force.

History

The 1950s saw many conflicts as decolonization progressed in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The Cold War also exacerbated some conflicts; in Egypt, President Nasser attempted to use East-West tensions to his own advantage, but became frustrated when requests for funding by the west to assist in modernization of his country were refused. He nationalized the Suez Canal, at that time owned by Britain and France and relied on it for the shipment of oil from the Persian Gulf states. Britain and France arranged for an Israeli invasion as a pretext for their own militaries to intervene and "protect" the Suez Canal, with the added hope that Nasser's government would fall.

The Israeli invasion in late Oct 1956 met with the intended result; Britain and France's ultimatum to cease fighting was accepted as planned by the Israelis and rejected by the Egyptians. Britain, France and Israel all had forces on the ground by 5 Nov 1956 and Egypt's military was effectively neutralized.

Opinion among other western nations was hostile; Canada had been lied to about British intentions, as had the US. World attention was drawn away from brutal acts of repression in Hungary by the Soviet Union at the time.

Canada's primary objectives in the crisis were to restore Anglo-American relations, preserve NATO, help the British and French extricate themselves from the mess they had created, and move the intractable Middle East problem towards a solution. At the United Nations on November 1, Lester Pearson, the Secretary of State for External Affairs, proposed that the Secretary-General 'begin to make arrangements with Member Governments for a United Nations force large enough to keep these borders at peace while a political settlement is being worked out...My own government would be glad to recommend Canadian participation in such a United Nations force.' This idea and Pearson's subsequent role in creating the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) won him the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize.1

 

While Canadian popular opinion varied, some seeing Nasser as a modern day dictator, others blaming the French and English for creating the crisis, a majority supported the idea of a peacekeeping force. When Canada selected the 1st Battalion of The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada as an infantry force, Eqypt objected. Not only did Canada's flag have a British Union Jack in the corner, but the battalion wore British-looking uniforms and had a British sounding name. The similarities were too close for Egyptians sensibilities, and another battalion was requested. The Canadian Chief of the General Staff was perplexed, as all the Regular Force battalions had English-sounding names, even the single francophone regiment had the word "Royal" in its title. "It required extraordinary efforts by General Burns, (UN Secretary General) Dag Hammarskjöld, and the Canadian Ambassador in Cairo, Herbert Norman, to persuade the Egyptians to allow Canada to contribute not the 1(st Battalion) Queen's Own Rifles but the logistical support UNEF needed to function."2

By the Nov 22, Canada had dispatched 300 logistics soldiers, and by Dec over 1,000 troops were serving with UNEF, comprising about 1/6 of the entire force. The Canadians serving in the mission found it "...infintely boring, in squalid conditions, and completely without glamour."3

Canadian Military Involvement

  • 56 Reconnaissance Squadron (Royal Canadian Armoured Corps)

  • 56 Signal Squadron

  • 56 Transport Squadron

  • 56 Infantry Workshop

  • 115 Air Transport Unit (Dakotas, Caribous and Otters)
     

 


Canadians inspect an Egyptian base in the Sinai peninsula in 1958. PAC Photo.

Insignia

Ninety days of service with the mission from 7 Nov 1956 to 19 May 1967 entitled a Canadian serviceman to the UNEF Medal. The ribbon was sand yellow with a central 8mm stripe of UN blue and on each side, 3mm from the edge, a 1mm stripe of dark blue and 2mm inside the dark blue stripe, a dark 1mm green stripe.

Of 58,031 medals issued, 9,963 went to Canadians.

Notes

  1. Granatstein, Jack Canada's Army: Waging War and Keeping the Peace (University of Toronto Press, Toronto, ON, 2002) ISBN 0802046916 pp.344-345

  2. Ibid, p.346

  3. Ibid, p.346

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