India on Thursday condemned the attacks on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which resulted in the death of three Indonesian peacekeepers over an Israeli ground attack, and called for accountability for crimes committed against the UN peacekeepers.
Two Indonesian peacekeepers were killed and two others injured when an explosion hit a UNIFIL logistics convoy in southern Lebanon on 30 March. The previous day, another Indonesian peacekeeper was killed when a projectile hit the mission’s base in Taiba. More than 8,000 peacekeepers from about 50 countries work in UNIFIL, and India is the fourth largest contributor with more than 640 soldiers.
External Affairs Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said in a weekly press conference that India condemns the recent attacks on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon in which several soldiers were killed. He said: “Once again, we would like to stress the necessity of ensuring the inviolability of United Nations missions and ensuring the safety and security of our peacekeeping forces.”
“As one of the largest and longest-serving contributors to peacekeeping operations, and in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2589, we seek accountability for crimes committed against peacekeepers,” he said.
The Indian side has remained silent on Israel’s role in several recent attacks on UNIFIL, while Indonesia’s representative to the UN called on the UN to investigate the killing of three Indonesian peacekeepers following Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon. The request was made during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday.
The head of UN peacekeeping operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, said in New York that UNIFIL is conducting investigations to determine “the circumstances of these tragic developments.”
“We strongly condemn these unacceptable incidents. Peacekeepers must never be a target,” he told reporters at UN headquarters. “We remain deeply concerned by several incidents of aggressive behavior against UNIFIL peacekeepers in the past two days.”
UNIFIL was established in 1978 to confirm the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon, restore peace and security, and assist the Lebanese government in ensuring its effective authority in the region.
Jaiswal noted that India has played an important role in UN peacekeeping operations for several decades. “We are the largest troop-contributing country to UN peacekeeping missions, and the contributions of our peacekeeping forces… to global peace and security [is well regarded]He said.
