Main group of Finnish Lebanon peacekeepers report for service

Most have previous experience on UN missions

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Friday saw the arrival at barracks of the main group of soldiers forming the extended engineering company to be deployed in the United Nations crisis management operation in Lebanon. The great maority of those who reported for duty at the Pori Brigade in Säkylä already have experience of previous peacekeeping missions.
      Since they know the drill, there was no confusion as they lined up to sign for their weapons and equipment for the mission.
      Major Juha Helle, 38, who has been given command of the Finnish contingent, has already been over to Lebanon for a week-long fact-finding mission to examine the situation on the ground and to take a look at the Finnish base area in Marjayoun, just south of the Litani River.
      "The warring parties have committed themselves to allowing the UN forces into the area. People are also returning home in some numbers", he says.
      Juha Helle was second-in-command to a engineers' company on a similar operation with the SFOR Stabilisation Force in Bosnia in 1996, and he served in Kosovo in 2003.
     
"The position in Lebanon is that there are cluster bombs left over from the recent fighting, and also mines and other ordnance from earlier conflicts, but spread over a fairly restricted area. As a whole, our mission is no more difficult than previous Finnish operations", Helle estimates.
      He stressed that those chosen to fill the company strength have suitable earlier experience of peacekeeping work. Those who have been specifically picked for their civilian skills are also not straight out of school or college, but have the necessary work experience.
     
The average age of the soldiers heading to Marjayoun is 32, and 75 per cent of the 211 Finns have been on peacekeeping missions abroad on at least one occasion. Around a quarter of the men and women - there are six women in the company - are full-time members of the Finnish Defence forces, and the remainder are reservists. Also on the roster are five nurses and two doctors.
      The training prior to their departure will go over basic routines, familiarising the troops with the equipment, the situation they can expect in Lebanon, and the basic principles of crisis management work.
      The main detachment will fly out on October 31st. They will be charged with building bases for other UN units and with repair of roads and tracks to be used for patrols. They will also be engaged in mine clearance and helping civilians rebuild their lives.
      The mandate for the Finnish force runs from October 2006 to the end of 2007, and Finland will be forming a battalion with 150 troops from Ireland. The Irish infantry unit's task is to protect the Finnish pioneers in their clearance and reconstruction tasks.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Training commences for Finnish peacekeepers bound for Lebanon (28.9.2006)
  Parliament groups support Lebanon peacekeeping operation (6.9.2006)

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