An Cosantóir

cimic course | 15 that characterise our times. This – and the failures of peace- keeping in places like Somalia, Bosnia and Rwanda – have led to a far-reaching reappraisal of the military role in PSO. The UN, NATO, the (EU), and other regional actors, have all increasingly adopted a more comprehensive approach to peace-building. This sees the military working closely and systematically with other actors to deliver an integrated effort in peace-building and crisis-response. Consequently, militaries now find themselves needing to co-ordinate, co-operate and integrate with UN police/aid agencies, local interests, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), as never before. Civil-military co-operation (CIMIC) and CMCo- ord (civil-military co-ordination) have become part of the necessary preparation for PSO deployment. CIMIC Partners of Peace S BY WESLEY BOURKE PHOTOGRAPHS BY ARMN BILLY DOYLE (105 SQN) ince the end of the Cold War it has become very appar- ent that there is no single military solution to resolving the increasingly complex and intra-national conflicts UNTSI (UN Training School Ireland) has run CIMIC courses for DF personnel for almost ten years. Following the experi- ence the School gained on Exercise VIKING 11, a Swedish-run international CIMIC CPX which saw more than 70 non- military personnel successfully incorporated into a brigade level PSO simulation in 2011, it was decided that the time was right for UNTSI's CIMIC course to adopt a more international and interagency type syllabus. And so, last winter, UNTSI ran its first International CIMIC Course. The move proved highly successful as 29 students arrived to undergo 1 CIMIC International in mid–November. As well as students from our European neighbour states including the UK, Austria, Germany and Macedonia, others arrived from as far afield as Chile. While most were of a military background the students did include police officers from Romania and three civilians from our Dept of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Rapid Response Corps. Two weeks of intensive training saw the course explore CIMIC-related issues such as international humanitarian law and human rights law; civil-military activity within the estimate process; and the UN OCHA Cluster system in post- conflict and humanitarian crisis settings; as well as looking at the practical skills of village assessments, siting CIMIC centres, and the development and management of quick impact projects (QIPs). The UNTSI team conducting the course was headed-up by Lt Col Mick Dolan, with Comdt Rory Finegan leading on day-to-day issues and bringing everything together, ably assisted by Sgt Martin Breslin. Capt Conor Galvin (UNTSI/ RDFTA) was exercise director for 'MissionPoint', the course field exercise. Guest instruction was provided by Maj/Pa- dre Steve Moore and Dr Peter Gizewski (Canadian Armed Forces Centre for Operational Research and Analysis), Maj Alan Rees (AMC UK Armed Forces), Mr Arthur Hendrick (DFA RRC/Irish Aid), Mr Josef Reiterer (UN OCHA), Lt Col S Heinz (NATO Civil-Military Co-operation Centre of Excel- lence) by video link, and Col Ger Aherne (OC 4 W Bde). The course included instruction on both CIMIC and CMCoord, and the difference was seen as an important one. "CIMIC is designed to enhance the commander's aim and support the commander in an operational scenario," Comdt Finegan pointed out, "so CIMIC works as a force multiplier that also has a humanitarian aspect. CIMIC teams are now part of our overseas structure and their role really came to fore in Chad where they worked very closely with the IDP (internally displaced person) camps." www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE

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