CHALLENGES OF A TEAM LEADER

As I indicated in my last blog post on 11 July 2013, I am currently deployed as military observer in a UN peacekeeping mission in Democratic Republic of Congo in East Africa. Military observers are a sub unit of a military component of UN peacekeeping force. Our duties as military observers are to observe and report information relevant to the implementation of the UN mandate in Democratic Republic of Congo. Military observers are professional military officers of the rank of a captain and above, deployed throughout the mission and not more than 6 officers from different countries. The location where they are deployed is often referred to as Team Site. Currently, we are 6 officers: 4 Majors,1 Lieutenant Colonel and I Captain from Ghana, India, Indonesia, Ukraine, Egypt and Bolivia. I am a Ghanaian Major and the team leader is from Bolivia.

The team leader went on leave for one month and I was appointed the team leader. The responsibilities of the team leader include operational, security and administrative effectiveness, timely and accurate reporting of all incidents, regular update of documents and maintenance of equipment and vehicles, and conduct and discipline among others. I saw this appointment as an opportunity to improve on my employability skills in the area of leadership skill specifically, persuasion skills, organizing skills, and listening skills and how to lead a team. Listening and communications skills were critical to me because of the language differences and the fact that I have a dream to work in a multinational environment after leaving the military. Leading professional officers from different cultures is a challenge and can be extremely difficult in a multinational peacekeeping environment. Again, the people I was supposed to lead knew that this appointment was temporal. On my first meeting one of them was 10 minute late and I saw this as my first test. To be firm and avoid offending him and the others members of the team I told him right away that officers are time conscious so to avoid any embarrassment  such behavior would not be tolerated. He later came to apologize and promised not to repeat such unprofessional conduct so my strategy worked.

Because we were of the same rank, they felt comfortable to air their views but  I made it clear even though we were  to work as a team , the final decision would be taken by  me .I gave then individual task, with specific performance indicators  and deadlines and added that I would be available for all clarification. In doing this, I improved on my coordination and supervisory skills. During this period I chaired various meetings involving other UN agencies, NGOs and local security agencies. In interpreters become valuable during such meetings because English and French are the key languages used in such meetings. Controlling people during such meeting was another big challenge. Here, my communication skills were put to test and I think I passed because of the comment that came to me later. I had to give directives but ensured it did not appear as a typical military orders with deadlines and the results were unimaginable. I had to ensure that all daily reports that were supposed to be sent to headquarters were sent on time and were correct.

Within this period our Team Site received VIP visitors whom I had to do presentations about the activities about our Team Site and in our area of responsibility. This was typical of a peacekeeping environment. In such environment, people are identified by their country so sometimes you are addressed by the name of your country.  Again, I saw such visits as opportunity to demonstrate by professional competency and the pride of being a Ghanaian. Transitioning from the military to the corporate world or civilian institutions is always difficult so I saw my team leader appointment as an opportunity to demonstrate my versatile capabilities and I also expected criticisms from the people I was supposed to lead. I think all these adds up to the employability skills required of today’s job seeker.

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CONFIRMATORY AIR RECONNAISSANCE TO ZONGO

CONFIRMATORY AIR RECONNAISSANCE TO ZONGO

Today, I was part of a confirmatory air reconnaissance (recce) team to Zongo.The aim of the recce was to confirm the suitability of identified houses and existing infrastructural support in order to the establishment a new team site.in Zongo. Zongo is a town along river Ubangi in the north western part of Democratic Republic of Congo .The Ubangi river serves as the boundary between Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo..Zongo and Bangui are separated by River Ubangi and the two towns are all located on a hill so it so beautiful looking at either of the two town from either side. Zongo is not a big city but because of its location there is always active commercial activities. Both cities are located on a hill so none has military advantage from the fact that Bangui is the capital city of Central Africa Republic and may have some strategic assets.

Those of you who have been following the news would know that about three months ago the government of President Francoise Bozize of Central Africa Republic was overthrown by Seleka rebels.Seleka rebels or for want of a better word mercenary are a coalition of rebels from Tchad and Sudan. Asa result, most of the loyalist of Bozize, both military and civilians fled across the river to Zongo. Additionally there were a large influx of refugees who also crossed to Zongo.This has created some sense of insecurity in Zongo and its sounding villages.This has necessitated the establishment of two major refugee camps for civilians and military. To enable the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Democratic Republic of Congo(MONUSCO)  to have 24hr report of the situation in Zongo and probably in Bangui and also to serve as the eyes and ears of MONUSCO, a decision has been taken to establish a Team Site in Zongo.

The recce team was composed of UN specialist from branches and sections such as transport, communication and information technology system, supply,movement control, security, communications, engineering, logistics operations and administration. Troops from a Ghanaian contingent provided security for the recce team. A Russian M17 helicopter was used for the recce.The history of air travel in Democratic Republic of congo is not too good so whenever one sits in especially helicopter, until have you have reached your destinations, you remain very uncomfortable. This mission was especially dangerous because Seleka rebels are deployed only 2km across the Ubangi river. Unfortunately and fortunately it is difficult to get helicopter for such patrols because most of the time it is engaged somewhere for some very important assignment.

The flight was one and a half hour and the patrol team had only two hours to gather all the necessary information they need to decide the exact location of the new team site. The job of a military observer is fun because you meet so many people from different countries; learn cultures and  taste different type of food. Like today, the patrol team was composed of 25 people from 20 different countries. There is always something new to learn from your colleagues.

UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS AND MILITARY OBSERVERS

UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS AND MILITARY OBSERVERS

UN peacekeeping is complex, expensive dangerous. The Department of Peacekeeping (DPKO) is responsible for all UN peacekeeping worldwide under the direction of the Security Council. The head of the mission is the Special Representative of the Secretary General .Before the deployment of any UN peacekeeping force, the consent of the warring factions must be sought usually through negotiations and meditations. The process of the deployment itself is difficult and complex and it can take months depending on the state of infrastructure in the mission area. A typical peacekeeping force has civilian and uniformed component usually commanded by the force commander from a country not party to the conflict who is appointed by the secretary general and approved by the Security Council. A subgroup of the uniformed component is the military depending on the type of mission which has another subgroup called UN Military Observers.

The force commander has a deputy who is also the Chief Military Observer Military. Military observers are professionally trained officers who are of the rank of Captain and above selected from UN member countries. Beside the basic soldiering knowledge, military observers are expected to have proficiency in driving, computer skills, first aid, Global Positioning System (GPS), be medically fit, and have some staff experience. Before their deployment, military observers are trained by their respective country. On arrival in the mission area, they receive one week training from the mission military training cell on the history of the country, warring factions, mission mandate, mission structure, mine awareness, their duties and responsibilities, radio communication, negotiation skills, information gathering, patrolling. After this initial training each military observer is expected to pass English language, driving and general knowledge peacekeeping test.

Military observers in peacekeeping missions are deployed in Team Site lots of not more than 6 officers based on the rainbow concept that is no two officers from the same country. They live in rented accommodations with little or no security depending on the security situation .The cook themselves or hire a local cook. The interesting part is that the cook prepares five to six different meals for these officers from different countries daily. If they are fortunate they will be collocated with a UN Central Operations Base made up of logistics element s to support them. An officer of the rank of a Lieutenant Colonel is appointed as the Team Leader whose responsibilities among others are to ensure the operational, security and administrative effectiveness of the team. They operate in tough environment and can be confronted with challenging and often dangerous situations.

As the eyes and ears of the UN mission, military perform variety of task. Information gathering is one of the key tasks of military observers. This task is executed through foot and mobile patrols, liaison with other security agencies if they exist, local authorities or administration, situation monitoring and use of non-governmental organisations. They also do mediation, negotiation, de-escalation and use  amicable means to resolve issues at their level .Military Observers are very important during Disarmament, Disintegration, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDDR programmes .They are used for collection and verification of arms and ammunitions and they give technical advice on the storage of these arms and ammunitions.  They monitor checkpoints,  border crossings points of entry and exit and aerial and maritime ports.

Being a military observer can be fun but very challenging. You can be a group of six military officers from different countries so culture and language and also stress become a serious challenge. Military observers are not armed so their safety is only in God? Allah. They are susceptible to ambushes, kidnap, carjacking, robbery, and criminal swindlers, mob attacks and even in case of medical emergencies where there are no close medical centres you can easily lose your life. You can be cut off from the rest of the world for days, weeks or even months as result of the vagaries of the weather. When this happens, those who suffer most are wives and children you might have left thousands of mile home alone. But with all these challenges, the military observer is happy and proud because he/she has gone to where the ordinary person would not go.