Kiltoom man takes up role of Deputy Force Commander

Kiltoom man Brigadier General Ger Aherne this week took up the role of Deputy Force Commander of the UN Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad when the UN Force took over from the EU Force on March 15. Newly promoted to his present rank, Brig Gen Aherne became the only Irish officer of that rank to serve with an international force. He was appointed to the post by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon after a nomination and interview process. He is based with MINURCAT HQ in Abeche, Chad, working with Major General EM Kendji (Senegal) as Force Commander. Before deploying to Chad on March 2, Brig Gen Aherne spoke to the Westmeath Independent about his year-long appointment and mission. 'It"s a great honour, it"s obviously a lifetime ambition to proceed in one"s ranks in the Defence Forces and reaching this appointment is a great honour, not just for myself, but for my family and my extended family and I suppose, hopefully, it is recognition of the work that I have done, both at home, and particularly overseas in the multiplicity that I"ve served in the world - the Middle East, the Balkans, Africa, and I suppose it is the culmination of, in recent years, the appointments that I"ve held in overseas missions, most recently as Chief Operations Officer for the UN Force in Liberia,' he said. When the UN Force took over from EUFOR on Monday, the size of the force increased from 3,700 to 5,200. 'Some European nations are departing, a lot of the European nations are staying and other nations are joining the force - Nepal, Croatia, Togo, Malawi. The field surgical hospital, which has been run by the Italians, will now be run by the Norwegians,' explained Brig Gen Aherne. Brig Gen Aherne will be based in the Force"s headquarters in Abeche, which is approximately a one hour helicopter flight south of Camp Ciara, the Irish camp. Speaking about how the situation has changed since the EU Force began its peace enforcement mission in the country last year, Brig Gen Aherne said: 'We"re very, very happy and confident to report that in the year that the European Union Force has been there that the situation in the operation has substantially stabilised, there"s freedom of movement, there"s a safe and secure environment, the attacks by the rebels have diminished to almost negative proportions, although we"d never say we would be complacent. The humanitarian workers are moving around freely and safely and the humanitarian corridor to bring in the supplies necessary to sustain the 400,000 refugees and internally displaced persons in the 12 camps in our area of operation, that"s working well.' He added that the mortality rate of children being born in the camps was rising, which was a great joy those serving on the mission. He said the Irish have unique character traits and no colonial past, which means they are well received as a force around the world, and this is no different in Chad. 'We do have that great gift of having an empathy with one"s fellow human being. During my deployment to Liberia I had an impromptu meeting with an African who worked at the UN headquarters who I didn"t really know and he was from the Congo and he mentioned something that I thought was quite telling and it reverts back to the fact that we have no colonial past anywhere and particularly in Africa. He said that we were the only European nation that came to Africa, gave everything and took nothing so there is a long, long history of goodwill to Ireland in Africa, borne mostly by our missionaries, priests, sisters, brothers, teachers and medical staff, so we had significant credits in Africa before we ever deployed there,' he said. 'It must also be remembered that we are one of the most experienced nations in the world in the business of conflict resolution, both in terms of the negotiation of it and in terms of the enforcing of it. In order for there to be proper post conflict resolution there has to be confidence building measures and confidence building measures aren"t necessarily and exclusively built on the barrel of a gun,' added Brig Gen Aherne. He said forces such as EUFOR and MINURCAT provide an insurance policy for the Government, the local leaders and the local people to go about their daily lives and take strong, meaningful decisions in building their societies and communities with the support of a robust force. 'The UN forces and the EU forces have legitimacy, they have legal international legitimacy as enshrined by the UN Security Council,' he said. Speaking about the UN follow-on force, Brig Gen Aherne said: 'We intend to be as effective and robust as a follow-on force as the European force has been. Eastern Chad was a soft touch for rebels crossing the border from Sudan. Eastern Chad is no soft touch anymore for invading rebels or local opportunist bandits. The Government of Idriss Déby in N"Djaména, the capital of Chad, is growing stronger by the day. There is certainly growing evidence of confidence building in the country.' He pointed out that the mission is a Chapter 7 peace enforcement mission, as was EUFOR before it. 'We are not humanitarian workers with rifles, we are soldiers. Whereas we frequently and often as an adjunct to our mandate, attempt and successfully in the main, have a humanitarian element our first function is military,' he said. Having previously served as Chief Operations Officer in Liberia, Brig Gen Aherne is no stranger to Africa, but pointed out that Chad will present its own logistical problems in that it is a landlocked country and has heavy rain for almost six months of the year, which further restricts travel throughout the country. Speaking about his role as Deputy Force Commander, he said: 'My main task will be in support of the force commander, I will be the acting force commander in periods of absence of the force commander when he is out of the area of operation or out of the country I will assume command of the force. On a day to day basis I will run the headquarters for him and ensure the operational, logistics operations and administrative operations in order to support a force of this size will run smoothly. It is no easy task to deploy and operate and sustain a force of this size in the desert of eastern Chad. It is a monumental logistical task and if we don"t get the logistics of it right, we can"t operate.' A Cork native, Brig Gen Aherne lives in Kiltoom with his wife Marian and they have three children Captain John (a serving army officer), Sarah and Gerald (Jnr). Brig Gen Aherne joined the army in 1971 and has served at home, most recently, as Director of Training in Defence Forces HQ and previously as Officer Commanding 6th Infantry Battalion and Custume Barracks, Athlone. He has a host of previous overseas experience to the job having served in Lebanon (UNIFIL) three times, as a military observer in the Middle East for two years (UNTSO), in the Krajina region of Croatia with OSCE following the Balkan wars, in Kosovo (KFOR) and most recently in 2007 as the UN Chief Operations Officer in Liberia (UNMIL). He was the last Irish officer to serve in Liberia. He is heavily involved with St Brigid"s GAA Club. He played minor and U21 football for Cork and captained the Cork Minor team that won the 1972 All Ireland Football Final. He holds a BA and an MA in International Peace Support Operations, both from NUI Galway where he is member of the Alumni Board.