Cyprus early 1990s- UNFICYP crisis leads to renewed civil war

[Melvin Loh]

During the early 1990s, the UN Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) faced significant personnel difficulties re the individual peacekeeping contingents which had been stationed longterm to separate the warring Greek and Turkish communities, with the Canadians, Swedes, Danes and Norwegians as longtime contributors wishing to withdraw their inf bns due to the perceived pointlessness of retaining these blue helmets on Cyprus while both sides still refused to agree on a political solution. The only other UN contingents would then have been the British (still in possession of their Sovereign Base Areas- SBAs- at Larnaca and Akrotiri), Austrians, and Irish, tog with small civilian police contingents from a few other countries including Australia. Eventually, the peacekeeping presence on Cyprus was restored with other countries volunteering their inf contingents to UNFICYP, namely Argentina (ironically), Hungary and Slovenia, but prior to the replacement of the withdrawn blue helmets, there was concern that the understrength peacekeepers couldn't have prevented a resurgence of intercommunal warfare.

WI such renewed ethnic conflict had broken out due to the downsizing of UNFICYP ? How badly would the UN have been affected, esp with the other major peacekeeping commitments in Bosnia, Somalia and Cambodia ?

 

[aktarian]

Would decrease in UN personell really contribute to war? IMO a lot of these operations are run only because they were run last year and year before that. OK, when UNFICYP started there were real troubles and sides needed to be separated. Now they are there because situation is technically same but practically much different. If Greeks and Turks would decide to have another go at each other they would do it, UNFICYp or no and if they decide that war isn't necessary there woun't be war, UNFICYP or no.