Filipino force defied UN commander in Golan crisis

[hack89]

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine military said Monday that a U.N. peacekeeping commander in the Golan Heights should be investigated for allegedly asking Filipino troops to surrender to Syrian rebels who had attacked and surrounded their camp.

Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang said he advised the 40 Filipino peacekeepers not to lay down their arms, and they defied the U.N. peacekeeping commander's order. Instead, they staged a daring escape from the Golan camp over the weekend, ending a tense, days long standoff.

The commander of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, or UNDOF, which supervises the peacekeeping mission in Golan, was overseeing talks with the Syrian rebels to secure the freedom of the Fijians. However, Catapang said he would not agree to any resolution of the hostage crisis that would put Filipino troops in grave danger.

When the besieged Filipino troops sought his advice after they were ordered to lay down their arms as part of an arrangement with the rebels to secure the Fijians' release, Catapang said he asked them to defy the order.

http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/filipino-force-defied-un-commander-in-golan-crisis-1.300930

If the UN troops are too weak to defend themselves then they need to be withdrawn. Giving the rebels a steady supply of hostages is not why they are there.

[COLGATE4]

1. Just another sad chapter in the less than

admirable record of UN "Peacekeepers" in the region.

[King_David]

2. The UN was gonna throw them under the bus

Why would any country volunteer to be discarded by the UN in such a manner ?