United Nations Good Offices Mission in Afghanistan and Pakistan

United Nations Good Offices Mission in Afghanistan and Pakistan (UNGOMAP) was a United Nations observer mission involving Canadians from 1988-1990.

Mandate

To assist the Representative of the Secretary-General to lend his good offices to the parties in ensuring the implementation of the Agreements on the Settlement of the Situation Relating to Afghanistan and, in this context, to investigate and report possible violations of any of the provisions of the agreements from May 1988 to Mar 1990.

History

On 27 Dec 1979, Soviet forces entered Afghanistan in response to a reported request from the Afghan Government for assistance against insurgent movements. Eventually over 100,000 Soviet troops were engaged in a protracted conflict with Afghan resistance fighters (mujahideen).

The United Nations failed to produce a resolution to this matter in Jan 1980, and an emergency session resulted in a strong statement calling the military action an invasion and demanding the immediate, unconditional and total withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.

In 1981, discussions between the UN and the governments of both Afghanistan and Pakistan led to six years of discussions in Geneva from 1982-1988. The Geneva Accords were followed by a Soviet announcement that their troops were being withdrawn in 1988.

The Accords, known formally as the Agreements on the Settlement of the Situation Relating to Afghanistan, consisted of four instruments: a bilateral agreement between the Republic of Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on the principles of mutual relations, in particular on non-interference and non-intervention; a declaration on international guarantees, signed by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America; a bilateral agreement between Afghanistan and Pakistan on the voluntary return of refugees; and an agreement on the interrelationships for the settlement of the situation relating to Afghanistan, signed by Afghanistan and Pakistan and witnessed by the Soviet Union and the United States.

 

This last instrument contained provisions for the timetable and modalities of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. It also provided for arrangements to assist the parties to ensure the smooth and faithful implementation of the provisions of the instruments of the Accords and to consider alleged violations. The Secretary-General was asked to appoint a Representative to lend his good offices to the parties. The Representative would be assisted in his tasks by a support staff, organized as the United Nations Good Offices Mission in Afghanistan and Pakistan (UNGOMAP), which would investigate and report on any possible violations of the instruments. The mandate of UNGOMAP was derived from the instruments and, accordingly, comprised the monitoring of non-interference and non-intervention by the parties in each other's affairs; the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan; and the voluntary return of refugees.

 

UNGOMAP's operations in the field would be directed by a senior military officer designated as Deputy to the Representative. UNGOMAP would be organized into two small headquarters units, one in Kabul and the other in Islamabad, which would each consist of five military officers and a small civilian component.

 

There was also provision for the deployment of up to 40 additional military officers Awhenever considered necessary by the Representative of the Secretary-General or his Deputy. These military officers would be organized into inspection teams to ascertain on the ground any violations of the instruments comprising the settlement. They would all be temporarily redeployed from existing United Nations peacekeeping operations.

 

The Accords were signed by the four countries in Geneva on 14 April 1988. On the same day, the Secretary-General informed the Security Council of the role requested of him in their implementation. He stated his intention to dispatch 50 military observers to the area, subject to the concurrence of the Council.

 

On 22 April, he submitted a second letter with the texts of the Accords. On 25 April, the President of the Council informed the Secretary-General by letter of the Council's provisional agreement to the proposed arrangements. Formal consideration and decision were deferred until later. On 31 October 1988, in resolution 622 (1988), the Security Council confirmed its agreement to the measures envisaged in the letters.

 

The Secretary-General immediately initiated the creation of UNGOMAP. He retained Mr. Cordovez as his Representative and appointed Major-General Rauli Helminen (Finland) as Deputy to the Representative (Major-General Helminen was succeeded by Colonel Heikki Happonen (Finland) in May 1989). Fifty military officers were temporarily seconded from the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. Ten countries contributed to the mission: Austria, Canada, Denmark, Fiji, Finland, Ghana, Ireland, Nepal, Poland and Sweden.¹

By the middle of May 1988, UNGOMAP was operations and monitoring the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan and ended its mandate on 15 Mar 1990.

Canadian Military Involvement

Canada provided five UN Military Observers for the duration of this mission, May 1988-Mar 1990.

Insignia

Fatalities

Lieutenant Colonel H.H. Angle died while serving on this mission.

Notes

1. UN website.

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