UN: 72 Filipino peacekeepers are safe

From Rappler (Aug 30): UN: 72 Filipino peacekeepers are safe

'The United Nations continues to engage with a wide range of parties within Syria, and is making every effort to ensure the safety and security of its personnel,' says UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric


PATROL: File photo of UNDOF peacekeepers patrol in Golan Heights. United Nations photo

The 72 Filipino peacekeepers in Golan Heights "have not been harmed and are in good health."

The United Nations (UN) continues to engage "parties within Syria" for the safety of the peacekeepers, UN spokespreson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters in New York on Friday afternoon, August 29 (Saturday in Manila).

“The United Nations is engaging – continues to engage – with a wide range of parties within Syria, and is making every effort to ensure the safety and security of its personnel,” he told reporters.

A UN note published in its web site said they are in regular contact with the Filipino peacekeepers who are serving under the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). The numbers are adjusted again from 75 to 72 troops.

As a contingency measure, the UN earlier ordered another group of 58 Filipino peacekeepers to leave their posts in northern Golan to consolidate at the UNDOF headquarters. The standoff is happening in central Golan.

In Manila, the Philippine military, which is closely coordinating with the UN, said the situation is "still the same."

"Negotiations are ongoing. We continue our peacekeeping duties despite standoff," said Philippine military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala in a text message at 9am on Saturday, August 30.

The UN said it also received assurances from credible sources that the 44 Fijian peacekeepers who were detained by the Syrian rebels are also "safe and in good health." The UN, however, has not yet had a direct contact with them.

The Syrian rebels supposedly claimed that they are holding the peacekeepers "to remove them from an active battlefield to a safe area for their own protection."

Golan Heights is a buffer zone that straddles the borders of warring Syria and Israel. Peacekeepers there are tasked to monitor the 1974 disengagement accord. The situation has changed however when the internal conflict in Syria erupted in 2011.

There are over a thousand peacekeepers from the Philippines, Fiji, India, Ireland, Netherlands, and Nepal.

http://www.rappler.com/nation/67677-un-72-filipino-peacekeepers-have-not-been-harmed