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24 February 2003: "Why "No Cameras"?"

So why the title "No Cameras"? Fair question.

On the 16th of April, 1993, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Stewart, commanding officer of BRITBAT (the British battalion of UNPROFOR), stood outside the village of Ahmici in central Bosnia-Herzegovina, where the Bosniak inhabitants had just been massacred by units of the Bosnian Croat HVO. BBC correspondent Martin Bell was on hand with his crew to film an exchange between Stewart and an HVO soldier who was trying to stop the British blue helmets from entering the village.

Interpreter: "[He asks,] do you have the permission of HVO?"
Stewart: "I don't need the permission of the bloody HVO. I am from the United Nations, and as far as I'm concerned what has happened here is disgraceful."

After a brief further exchange, Stewart addresses Bell and says "I've just had the HVO telling me no cameras. I told them to get stuffed."

Colonel Stewart's behaviour stands as an excellent example of a UN peacekeeper trying to do the right thing, despite being restricted by a shamefully inadequate mandate. But in spite of all the petty politicking that takes place in the Security Council, it is the actions of men like Bob Stewart that ultimately make the UN a force for good in the world.
(The Ahmici massacre is depicted in the BBC TV miniseries Warriors, which I thoroughly recommend.)

Moreover, since this weblog deals with words, not images, the title "No Cameras" makes eminent sense.

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