Today when people around the world visualize the United Nations keeping the peace, they share a common image-the blue helmets worn by UN peacekeepers. But what has become a global symbol was created in a moment of inspired improvisation at the outset of the UN's first large-scale peacekeeping operation, one that prevented a regional conflict from igniting a major war.
The year was 1956. Egypt, stung by the cancellation of Western financing for the Aswan High Dam, nationalized the Suez Canal Company. The British and French, eager to regain control of an economic lifeline they had overseen for decades under an international agreement, forged a secret pact with Israel, which wanted to secure its southern flank against fedayeen raids from Egyptian-controlled territory. The Israelis attacked on October 29; two days later the British and French demanded that both sides pull back, then dispatched their own troops and began bombing Egyptian installations near the canal. Moscow hinted at intervention; Washington, taken by surprise, looked for diplomatic ways to defuse the crisis.
When British and French vetoes blocked the UN Security Council, Canada's Lester Pearson proposed on November 4 that the General Assembly authorize a UN Emergency Force (UNEF) that would go beyond previous UN military observation missions by interposing entire military units between combatants. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold negotiated an agreement for the multinational UN troops to replace invading Israeli, British and French soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip. This deft piece of diplomacy enabled the invaders to leave Egyptian territory while saving face. It also eased pressure on Moscow and Washington to intervene.
Negotiating the agreement was one thing, making it work on the ground was another. How could the United Nations generate a flow of supplies to 6,000 troops from nine countries? The improvised solution was to buy goods from the 17 ships blocked inside the Suez Canal. Meanwhile, to distinguish the neutral Canadians from the invading British (who wore identical uniforms), the United Nations borrowed thousands of American helmet liners and spray-painted them UN blue-and so, 11 years after the founding of the United Nations, its most dashing symbol came into being.
By: Michael J. Berlin (excerpt from Keeping the Peace) From: A Global Affair: An Inside Look at the United Nations, published by Jones & Janello, copyright 1995, all rights reserved.
