– Lieutenant Colonel Oiroa Kaihau
Life without body armour and the sounds of explosions and sirens is something New Zealand Army officer Lieutenant Colonel Oiroa Kaihau relishes.
The first New Zealand Defence Force officer to deploy as part of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), Lieutenant Colonel Kaihau, has returned to New Zealand after completing his six-month mission.
He spent three weeks in Baghdad, before travelling to Erbil, a mainly Kurdish, semi-autonomous region.
While in Erbil he lived with a contingent of Korean defence force personnel who were there to provide security. The only military person in a UN international staff of six, his job was to provide the interface between the multi-national forces in Erbil and the United Nations. The UN withdrew most of its international staff from the region just before the 2003 war, and controls most of its Iraq programme from Amman in Jordan. It is now trying to return to the region, and is building a secure compound in Erbil, separated physically from populated areas so that it can provide assistance and deliver humanitarian aid from a secure base.
The United Nations mandate in Iraq includes providing advice on the holding of elections, promoting discussion on the drafting of a national constitution for Iraq, and advising the Iraq government on the development of effective civil and social services. It is also promoting the protection of human rights, judicial and legal reform in Iraq.
Lieutenant Colonel Kaihau said most of his work in Erbil revolved around liaison work, and interacting with representatives from other nations to find solutions to local issues and problems.
"The United Nations wants to provide a strong foothold in both Erbil and Basra, and is focussed on developing the governance and constitutional process, so that it has a proper base on which to offer humanitarian aid. As an adviser I was called on to consider a wide range of issues – some military and some non-military. I helped develop solutions and options. Despite coming from a logistics background, this was not a disadvantage and I found the all arms military training I had received held me in good stead to deal with the problems I faced."
One of the biggest challenges, he said, was to "not become complacent" as far as security was concerned.
"When I first arrived in Baghdad during the January elections insurgents fired a Katushya rocket into the Embassy Palace Annex where I was staying in the International Zone. It didn’t explode, but impacted in the building and killed three people. It was much quieter in Erbil, but we always had contingency plans just in case. Rockets were fired into the Korean Camp on one occasion, but all fell short of their target. The worst incident while I was in Erbil was the suicide bombing outside a police recruitment centre. We heard the explosion from the Korean Camp, some 8km from the incident site and there were a large number of people killed, but we weren’t directly affected.
"Insurgents didn’t appear to be targeting the United Nations or non- Government organisations. It was mostly security forces, politicians or high-profile Government officials. We were largely confined to the Korean Camp for most of the time, but we had all the communications tools we needed, including the Internet. It was difficult at times coping with not being able to get around at will, but the security situation was such that that was how things had to be. "Coming home, I really appreciate being able to drive where I like, and go out whenever I feel like it without hearing explosions or wondering if I should take cover." Lieutenant Colonel Kaihau has been replaced in Erbil by another Army officer, Lieutenant Colonel Mike Shatford.