PNG soldier of peace

THE Papua New Guinea Defence Force’s presence in United Nations peacekeeping mission in Sudan, Darfur in Africa has been recognised with the serving soldiers awarded their first UN peace keeping medal.
In 2010 the PNG government approved the Forces Abroad Act for PNGDF officers to serve in UN peace keeping missions abroad.
On Nov 8 last year, three officers were selected under critical scrutiny.
They were Major Bruno Malau, (Combat Engineers), Major Nicholas Henry (Infantry) and Major Sebastian Ipauki who were deployed for six months in Darfur, a war torn nation.
In PNGDF military history the three officers were the first to be engaged in UN peace keeping operations.
The Darfur region shares border with Libya in the North West, Chad to the West, Republic of South Sudan in the South and Central African Republic to the South West.
The size of the area is about 503,108 sq km and is located in the Western Region of Sudan, the same size as France.
The increasing violent conflicts between the Government of Sudan (GoS) and various insurgent groups in 2003 cause humanitarian crisis.
It then attracted the attention of the international community which led to the signing of the Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement (HCA) in April 2004.
Under the auspices of the African Union (AU) with support of the UN and other partners, the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) was signed on May 5 2006.
This was followed by the deployment of AU Protection Force between Aug 4 and Dec 30 2007.
Various protocols including the DPA struggled vehemently to bring about desired peace in Darfur hence the UNSCR 1769 of July 31 2007 paved way for the establishment of the United Nations-African Union Hybrid Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) in Jan 2008.
The UNAMID sustained its contribution to achieving durable peace in Dafur by renewing the peace process through a joint AU-UN mediation in Doha, Qatar leading to the production of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD).
In spite of these initiatives, the spectre of durable peace in Darfur in line with the UNAMID mandate remains fragile as most of the parties to the conflict have refused to sign the peace agreement.
Whilst situation in the AOR still remains fluid and unpredictable, the strategic dynamics within UNAMID area of responsibility (AOR) continued to witness some changes in the attitude of some key actors with varying effects.
The GoS is consolidating on the agreement with Chad and Central African Republic which has facilitated a joint border patrol along their common borders.
South Sudan gained autonomy in mid 2011 thereby throwing up new issues in the conflict between it and the Republic of Sudan.
Issues dominated by counter accusation of responsibility for proxy forces along common border and disputes over oil revenue now shape the conflict environment between the two states.
While the initiative between North Sudan and its North and South Western neighbours portend some semblance of relative peace in the UNAMID AOR, the prevailing tension between South and North Sudan remain worrisome.
In Feb 19 2012, Justice & Equality Movement (JEM) rebels blocked 55 Senegalese troops which lasted for two days in the North Western Darfur. The rebels later released the peace keepers.
The UNAMID Force Commander, Lt-Gen Patrick Nyamvumba told BBC at the time that, “UN soldiers are peacekeepers ‘FIRST’ and therefore try to resolve issues through talks and negotiations”.
“However, should circumstances dictate that we keep the peace by use of lethal force, we are ready to use it. We have done it before and we shall continue to do so in the defence of our mandate in the ‘Protection of Civilians’ which is the core UNAMID mandate. The situation remains volatile and unpredictable as peace keepers continue to carry out their mandated tasks accordingly” said Lt-Gen Nyamvumba.
The 2010 PNG Governments’ approved Forces Abroad Act for PNGDF soldiers to serve in UN peace keeping missions has sown fruitful results setting the precedence to flying the PNG flag colours, red, black and gold in the deserts of Sudan.
Maj Malau was among 800 men and women peacekeepers of Rwanda Infantry Battalion 29 contingent including 60 military staff officers from the UNAMID Force Headquarters that paraded at UN Super Camp, EL Fasher on Feb 23 to receive UN peace keeping medals from Lt-Gen Nyamvumba from Rwanda.
Maj Malau’s colleagues thought he was from Guinea Bissau, Africa. Many did not know where PNG was until Malau showed them on the world map he was from, north of Australia.
Malau serves as a military operations staff officer with the UNAMID Force HQ, joint operations centre at EL Fasher.
Malau is the first PNGDF military officer to be awarded a PNGDF UN medal for contributing to maintaining peace in Darfur.
“Henry is serving with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and will also awarded with his UN medal in due course as well. Both of us are currently flying the PNG Kumul flag in UN missions respectively” said Malau from Darfur in a telephone conversation.
During medal presentation, Lt-Gen Nyamvumba was accompanied by Deputy FC Maj Gen Mathew Kisamba, from Tanzania, Force Chief of Staff Brig-Gen Sow Mamadou from Senegal, Brig Gen Sithabiso Mahlobo from South Africa including GoS representatives and local community leaders.
Among the 860 strong UN military officers from various nations, different ranks and files, Malau dressed in PNGDF official uniform was decorated with his UN medal to his left breast by Lt-Gen Nyamvumb.
Malau is a graduate of Royal Military College in Duntroon, Australia with Bachelors in Public Policy Management from UPNG. He has plans to pursue his Masters International Relations and Diplomacy.
Malau was engaged as PNGDF’s exchange military engineer (EME) officer and served as a senior instructor and officer in charge of the Australian Army Engineers Initial Employment Training Squadron at the School of Military Engineering based at Liverpool, Sydney Australia in 2008-2009.
Malau came a long way from his humble beginning as a private soldier in PNGDF making his way up the ranks.
He served in several important staff officers positions within the PNGDF. In 2006, was the ADC (Executive Officer) to the Commander PNGDF (Rtd) Commodore Peter Ilau currently PNG’s Ambassador to Indonesia.
In 2010, he served at PNGDF commanding officer for Bravo Company Combat Engineers in Igam, Lae Morobe province.
Malau is married with four children and hails from Uvol in Pomio West New Britain and Tavui, Bitapaka in Kokopo, East New Britain while Henry is from Morobe.