Australian peacekeepers in Guatemala with MINUGUA 1997

Civil war in Guatemala

Guatemala started to experience political violence in the early 1960s. Its government established counterinsurgency groups in 1966 to end support for the revolutionaries. By 1981, the military dictatorship was forcing farmers to join Civil Defence Patrols. They were expected to be informers and enforcers. Those who didn’t were harassed and sometimes they disappeared.

In 1982, 4 leftist groups in Guatemala came together to create a new movement. It was called the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG). Translated the name is, Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity. The URNG attacked government and military installations. They also set up posts to collect money from farmers to support their activities.

In the late 1980s, political violence was causing problems across the region in:

• El Salvador
• Guatemala
• Honduras
• Nicaragua.

However, by 1989, the UNRG and the Guatemalan Government (elected in 1986) had signed an accord to start negotiations.

The Government and the URNG signed the Agreement on a Firm and Lasting Peace on 4 December 1996 in Oslo, Norway. This ended 36 years of internal conflict. It brought into effect several UN agreements negotiated in the previous 6 years.

One of the UN agreements was the 1994 Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights. Before the ceasefire, the parties asked for UN verification of the agreement. The new mission began on 19 September 1994. It was called the UN Mission for the Verification of Human Rights and of Compliance with the Commitments of the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights in Guatemala (MINUGUA).

The UN deployed 250 personnel to Guatemala, including:

• human rights observers
• experts in the indigenous peoples of Guatemala
• legal experts
• police.

MINUGUA carried out verification and institution building activities. The UN's presence focused public attention on human rights and helped reduce political violence.

United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala

On 20 January 1997, the UN Security Council decided to attach a group of up to 155 military observers and medical personnel to the mission for 3 months. The expanded mission was called the UN Verification Mission in Guatemala, but still MINUGUA for short. It was set up to verify the Oslo ceasefire agreement.

Under the Oslo Agreement, the verification functions included:

• observation of a formal end to the fighting
• the separation and concentration of the respective forces
• disarming and demobilising the URNG combatants.

The UN deployed 132 military observers and 13 medical personnel from 16 countries:

• Argentina
• Australia
• Austria
• Brazil
• Canada
• Ecuador
• Germany
• Norway
• Russian Federation
• Singapore
• Spain
• Sweden
• Ukraine
• United States
• Uruguay
• Venezuela.

Australian involvement

Haiti and Guatemala are the only peacekeeping missions Australia has undertaken in the Americas. But Australia had very little involvement in Guatemala. The UN asked Australia to take part to ensure the mission was globally multilateral.

The Howard government was elected less than a year earlier, in March 1996. The Government tried to focus on issues thought to be in the national interest of Australia. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer supported the mission. He believed it had clear goals and would boost Australia's peacekeeping profile. Guatemala was Australia's lone peacekeeping mission out of the Pacific region between 1996 and 2001.

Under Operation Freesia, Australia committed 2 Army personnel for up to 6 months. This was one of Australia's smallest peacekeeping missions. It was Australia's only mission where English wasn't the official language. All day-to-day communications were in Spanish.

Smallest peace operation

Lieutenant Colonel Don Keyes and Captain Sheldon Kidd were the 2 personnel selected. One of the prerequisites of their selection was their Spanish-language abilities.

Keyes arrived in Guatemala on 10 February 1997, and Kidd arrived a few days later. Unfortunately, Keyes didn't pass the language test. Although many in the mission spoke English, especially in the headquarters, the UN sent him home. The head of mission was Spanish and reportedly expected a high level of Spanish language skill.

Kidd was an exchange student in Argentina as a teenager. Later he joined the Army and graduated from the Royal Military College at Duntroon. In early 1997, he started as squadron second-in-command in the 1st Signal Regiment in Brisbane. After Keyes left, Kidd was unofficially attached to the Canadian contingent.

Australia's only MINUGUA peacekeeper

Kidd left Guatemala City on 21 February 1997 for the highlands of Tululché. On arrival he found a camp with:

• a barbed-wire fence
• 5 empty white tents
• no water
• a generator that didn't work
• and the camp next door for the demobilising guerrillas wasn't finished.

Kidd played a traditional military observer role in a contingent of 19, commanded by a Spanish lieutenant colonel. The contingent had to maintain a safe environment for the demobilising guerrillas. While at the same time, trying to build rapport and trust.

He recalls carrying the cigarettes the guerrillas preferred. There were only 2 cigarettes in the packet, so when he offered these, the guerrillas saw this as a sign of friendliness.

I did a fair bit of smoking for the cause.

[Captain Sheldon Kidd, quoted in Bou, Breen, Horner, Pratten, de Vogel, (2019). The Limits of Peacekeeping: Volume 4, The Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations: Australian Missions in Africa and the Americas, 1992–2005]

Kidd was almost repatriated after he developed kidney stones, instead he stayed to receive treatment. In mid-May, he returned to Australia, where there was little interest in his time in Guatemala. Kidd is the only recipient of the Guatemala clasp for the Australian Service Medal.

Kidd later served as a peacekeeper in East Timor (now Timor-Leste).

Results of the MINUGUA mission

The desire for peace in Guatemala helped create a smooth demobilisation process.

MINUGUA demobilised and issued temporary identification cards to 2,928 URNG combatants. It also gave identification cards to other UNRG personnel who didn't have to assemble. The UNRG handed over 535,000 weapons and rounds of ammunition to the peacekeepers.

Although it was not part of the mandate, the peacekeepers also cleared 378 mines.

Withdrawal of the MINUGUA peacekeepers

On 14 May 1997, peacekeepers delivered URNG weapons, munitions, equipment and lists of destroyed explosive devices to the Ministry of the Interior. The Guatemalan Government and the MINUGUA Chief Military Observer signed the handover certificate. This last act signalled the completion of the mandate of the military observer group.

On 4 June 1997, the UN Secretary-General praised the successful mission, which had no fatalities. MINUGUA continues to conduct human rights and institution-building activities. This is to support Guatemala's peace process. The UN General Assembly regularly renews this mandate.

Commemoration

National Peacekeepers' Day

On 14 September each year, we observe National Peacekeepers' Day. The first peacekeepers to deploy into the field were Australian. They served in the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia) in 1947. It’s a day to recognise the important work of those who have served, and continue to serve, in the name of global peace.

Learn more about Australia's peacekeeping missions since 1947.

International Day of UN Peacekeepers

29 May is a day of commemoration for all who have served as peacekeepers with the UN including:

• military
• police
• civilian personnel.

More than 4,000 peacekeepers from many countries have lost their lives while performing their duties under the UN flag.