Patrolling The Lawless Sahara Desert With The Blue Helmets | VICE on HBO

I read something that you said the world is in trouble I think I said the world is a mess so is the world in more of a mess today than it was when you were prime minister of Portugal yes I mean we have a multiplication of new conflicts when I was young we lived in a bipolar world no the Cold War on one side the United States on the other side the Soviet Union and when things might risk to be out of control the two superpowers would normally find a way today we live in a world that is no longer bipolar and you no longer have wars between countries you have situations in which in one country there are plenty of different sectors you have government troops sometimes international troops ethnic groups religious groups political groups and those conflicts are becoming more and more interlinked if you look for instance and Savita exceed Yemen Afghanistan you have fighters that go from one place to another so there is a link between all these conflicts and this new global threat of terrorism this global terrorism is best embodied by Isis who have largely been defeated in Syria and Iraq but it's gaining momentum in destabilized patients around the world most notably the Sahel region of northern Africa what does that mean in the context of the mission in Mali which being called the most dangerous place in the world right now what you have in Mao is a situation in which you have terrorist groups operating but the peacekeepers were sent to Maui because of a peace agreement with several of the movements that did not include terrorist groups that are operating there and so in Maui we have a peacekeeping force that has said more casualties than anywhere else correct me if I'm wrong UN forces they can't fire their guns unless they're shot upon but in Mali they're actually getting into counterterrorism and fighting a war on terror that is the problem Maui is exactly the example where the peacekeeping force by itself will not be able to solve the problem the operations in Mali could be the key to stopping terrorism as it spreads across Africa and secretary-general Gutierrez gave one of our cruise led by correspondent eros Luciano's exclusive access to join UN peacekeepers in the ground on their most dangerous active operation we're about to head off with a Bangladeshi battalion base here and go all the way up to an afib out two days drive north of terrible roads and the UN sources peacekeepers from all around the world offering $1,300 a month to recruits drawn mostly from countries like Ethiopia Pakistan and Bangladesh tell us about the convoy and what a way to Antibes it will be hard at times basically because the whole grounding findings are so the weather is rough ground is rough and you know the ID states are know what happened in 24 through September explosion explosion since 2013 more than 100 peacekeepers have been killed that IEDs one of at least seven other attacks in less than a year along the same route our convoy was now planning to take good luck Molly became a hotspot for instability after the collapse of the Libyan regime flooding the region with weapons jihadist groups and multiple Malian rebel factions vying for power left Mali in disarray today the UN mission year called minusma is responsible for maintaining a tenuous peace agreement that only half of the warring factions actually support five years into the international intervention in Mali and the security situation is still so bad the only way to bring vitally needed goods up to the north of the country is and convoys like this it's caused by heavily armed un peacekeepers like these Bangladeshi troops some of the groups fighting here al-qaeda is that I'd say they've been fighting the best equipped most powerful militaries in the world for nearly two decades now do you think the UN peacekeeping force is capable of taking on such a powerful enemy basically minimize the peacekeeping force this policy seeds the initiative to jihadist groups like al-qaeda in the Islamic state ensuring that they will always determine when and where an attack hurts this leaves the peacekeepers operating on the front lines in a precarious position when unplanned stops occur one of the civilian trucks been escorting his had a mechanical failure as he stops this village in the middle of the desert UN peacekeepers here they're handing out surprise these supplies are part of the UN's hearts and minds strategy to win over villagers and limit the insurgents influence [Laughter] and we'd like to all the happiness [Music] actually we are trying to share our feelings our cultures and we are also trying to keep them feeling instead minimize supporting them so that we can win their hearts I gave some information winning the hearts and minds of these villagers is a crucial part of the peacekeeping missions the most complex perception about peacekeeping is the following peacekeeping was conceived as the name indicates to keep the peace and so the idea is let's have a force of the UN blue helmets that is not supposed to fight the peacekeepers were supposed to preserve the stability of a country that has reached peace now the truth is that most of the peacekeeping operations today are taking place where there is no peace to people for outsiders entering these unfamiliar areas can prove fatal in October of last year four US soldiers were ambushed in a local village on Molly's border with me share u.s. officials described a scene of confusion during that October 4th attack involving some 50 isis-affiliated fighters near the Mali border the Islamic state showed our footage of the ambush which some speculate occurred after local village elders tipped off a jihadist group the Americans presence losing control of this area this area the desert no man's land nobody is dominating this area you can see just above us a German Tiger attack helicopter giving us air cover as we go through an errand one day the town that's hostile to the international presence here we've stopped here waiting for a civilian vehicle one of the trucks that's broken down that mechanical failure placed us in a region controlled by the MAA an ethnic Arab militia accused of maintaining relationships with jihadist groups Casca says said dropo maiice encephalocele a controller last year despite millions in aid reported to harvest attacks in Mali were up five hundred percent from 2014 the silicon vias daylight left but the Bangladeshi UN peacekeepers here already setting up camp for the night they're moving the civilian supply trucks into the middle and putting the armored vehicles around them for defense during the night the next section of the road all the way up to an affair status most dangerous parts journey most hostile local population with the UN base and most times [Music] chicken go to do with you guys oh girl chicken what is this chicken berry on it yeah [Music] you've reached the end of this leg of the journey or in the wastes of settlement of an ethnicity we're gonna be handed over to the next UN contingent we're not entirely sure which nationality there'll be that's the nation should work in a multinational fortune and ability to deliver any is the examples garden say [Music] we joined Senegalese peacekeepers on their routine intelligence gathering mission in local villages finishes entirely empty there's no one here for weird yeah yeah person yeah yeah [Music] what we saw in these contested areas was a sense of distrust between the UN and the locals and that distrust is driven in part because the locals often don't understand what the UN's role in the region is supposed to be is that kill papa as hidden you know for smokin aces are confined for Tunica America - Caesar says it teleport also may seem to suit any proper yet Mela force we see a lab hula music inform about the LA passione pitiful Baskar usual fizzles suppose some merry way may perceive it to sit as the attacks continue in Mali and across the Sahel the deteriorating security situation is leading some to call for the UN mandate to be expanded in an effort to stabilize the region and what are the implications if the international community can't gain control of what's happening in Maui it's not only Mali it's Libya that is not far away Nigeria the parameters are not far away if these area fails these will have tragic consequences for the people there but instability and insecurity will spread migrated movements will increase exponentially and this will be a serious threat for all the region with very clear implications for Europe we need to understand the challenges we face at global that no country can do it alone if we fail to do so I'm afraid the mass will get worse [Music]

Channel: VICE News

Views: 4,551,768

Keywords: VICE News, VICE News Tonight, VICE on HBO, news, vice video, vice news 2019, united nations, vice guide, Sahara desert, un peacemaking missions, aris russinos, Mali, Mali news, Bangladeshi battalion, antonio guterres, antonio guterres speech, suroosh alvi, United Nations 2019, terrorism, counter terrorism, counterterrorism strategies, Aris Russinos vice, MAA mali, Libya regime, Libya regime Mali, mali minusma mission, MINUSMA

Id: tDUAEegImXY

Length: 12min 51sec (771 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 24 2019