Secretary-General Salutes Indonesian Peacekeepers for Courage, Service and Commitment to Peace

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to peacekeeping troops at the Indonesia Armed Forces Peacekeeping Centre in Sentul, Indonesia, today:

Thank you for your warm welcome. I must say that seeing you, with your fantastic gestures, I remain convinced that no bad guys in [the Central African Republic] will dare confront the Indonesians. And thank you very much for your commitment to peace.

I came here today to pay tribute to all Indonesian peacekeepers for your bravery in carrying out their important mission. I also laid a wreath here at the Peacekeeping Centre in honour of the four Indonesian peacekeepers who recently lost their lives in Lebanon, not to mention so many others who paid the ultimate sacrifice to grant protection, to grant safety, to allow for other people to survive in very difficult circumstances.

I pay tribute to the Indonesian soldiers that have lost their lives and I want to express to their families my deepest condolences. Their service and their sacrifice will never be forgotten. No one should die serving the cause of peace.

Attacks on peacekeepers are grave violations of international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes. These violations demand accountability. I will continue calling on Member States to uphold their obligations to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel at all times.

UN Blue Helmets are a source of hope in some of the world’s most troubled places. For me, they are also a source of enormous pride. As the world’s sixth-largest contributor to UN peacekeeping missions, Indonesia is an important reason why.

I want to extend my appreciation to Indonesia for its unwavering support of UN peacekeeping operations over the years — including as co-host of next year’s Peacekeeping Ministerial with the Netherlands.

As we speak, nearly 2,000 Indonesian uniformed personnel — women and men — are serving as peacekeepers across seven missions around the world. That includes the mission in Central African Republic, which you will soon be joining.

Day in and day out, we are counting on the dedication and professionalism of our 50,000 peacekeepers around the world. Far from home, in some of the world’s most dangerous settings, peacekeepers deescalate tensions between hostile parties.

Oversee vital aid delivery. Protect civilians. And create space for political solutions — and hopefully, peace — to grow and take hold.

These are testing times for peace. For all that you do, I salute you. Thank you for your service and sacrifice. And thank you for your dedication to peace — the most important cause of all.

I would like to say a few words to those that are now embarking to the Central African Republic. I’ve been working with the Central African Republic for 20 years.

First as High Commissioner for Refugees, and then as Secretary-General. It is one of the poorest countries in the world. It is a country where until very recently there was practically no presence of the State in most of the territory.

And while there is still a proliferation of groups, they fortunately have celebrated, the majority of them, the agreements with the Government and are giving back their arms.

So the Central African Republic is a success story that still needs to be completed. Your mission will be decisive in order to guarantee that we are able to fully stabilize the Central African Republic.

To guarantee that their institutions can work in the whole of the territory, that the rest of the armed groups are progressively integrated in the peace process, and at the same time, that the country is able to enter into a phase of development because of the extreme poverty and the extreme suffering of its people.

Your mission will be very important, and in a crucial moment, for the operation in the Central African Republic. We will probably, with the success of your action, will be able to then progressively downsize the mission at the Central African Republic.

So you come at a crucial moment, in which we need to consolidate what is a success, but to make sure that success transforms itself into something that will allow the Central African Republic to become a country where peace is guaranteed and where the Government is able to control the entirety of the territory.

I am very happy that you are going to the Central African Republic. You will be joining Portuguese peacekeepers that are in the Central African Republic. And I know from their testimony how much the people of the Central African Republic appreciate the work of UN peacekeepers.

So I wish you the best success in your deployment, and I am absolutely sure that the people of Central African Republic will keep an eternal gratitude, not only to UN peacekeeping, but to the people of Indonesia that you represent in such a gallant way.