Rising powers in stormy seas: Brazil and the UNIFIL maritime task force

ABSTRACT

In February 2011, after five years of NATO powers rotating at the helm of UNIFIL's Maritime Task Force, its command was handed over to Brazil. What factors have motivated Brazil's participation, especially in light of the geographic distances separating Brazil and Lebanon and deepening crisis in Brazil? This article analyses Brazil's engagement with UNIFIL in light of key foreign policy and defence priorities and identifies three key motivations: the aspiration to participate more directly in Middle East security issues; the historical and political ties between Brazil and Lebanon; and the chance to expand Brazil's naval capacity in accordance with its new naval defence strategy within the South Atlantic. More recently, however, economic slowdown and political turbulence domestically have created new challenges for Brazil's ability to maintain its contributions to UN peacekeeping. These shifts offer an opportunity to refine the use of the ‘rising powers’ concept in the study of international security.

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the “Bolsa de Produtividade” research scholar program of the Brazilian Council for Scientific and Technological Research (CNPq) for supporting this research.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

About the author

Adriana Erthal Abdenur is a Fellow at the Igarapé Institute and Associate Researcher at the Brazilian Naval War College, both in Rio de Janeiro.

Notes

1 Richmond and Tellidis, The BRICS.

2 In 1994, UN peacekeeping involved around 80,000 military personnel; by 2014, 16 ongoing UN peacekeeping missions counted on 104,000 uniformed personnel (troops, police and military observers), 17,000 civilians and 1,800 UN volunteers.

3 Duffield, Development, Security and Unending War.

4 Buzan, ‘Will the “Global War on Terrorism”'.

5 While the term rising power is debated by international relations theorists, here we detract from the realist assumption that emerging powers rely on military and economic capabilities, and draw upon the English School view of great powerhood as more than simply capability. These states typically have ambitions to alter the global system so as to open up more space for themselves, and secondarily to make the system more representative of the current power landscape. See Bull, The Anarchical Society; Hurrell, ‘Hegemony, Liberalism and Global Order’; Narlikar, ‘New Powers in the Club’; and Hart and Jones, ‘How Do Rising Powers Rise?’

6 Wiharta et al., The New Geopolitics.

7 Tank, The Concept of Rising Powers.

8 In 2009, The Economist ran a cover depicting the statue of Christ sitting atop Rio de Janeiro taking off, rocket-like, under the headline ‘Brazil Takes Off'. Four years later, the magazine published a nearly identical cover, but with the statue spinning out of control (‘Has Brazil Blown It?’). See the cover stories in The Economist issues 12 Nov. 2009 and 8 Sept. 2013.

9 De Carvalho and de Coning, Rising Powers.

10 Senior diplomats frequently refer to Brazil's UN peacekeeping commitments as evidence of the country's credentials in seeking an enhanced role in international security, for instance in its bid to obtain a permanent seat at the UN Security Council. Comments made under the Chatham House rule at the ‘Dialogue on the UN Peacekeeping and Special Political Missions’ (Diálogo sobre a Revisão das Operações de Manutenção da Paz e das Missões Políticas Especiais das Nações Unidas), Brasília, Jan. 2015.

11 Bellamy and Williams, Broadening the Base; Daniel et al., Peace Operations.

12 Bueger, ‘What Is Maritime Security?’, p. 1

13 Oliveira, ‘Naval Peacekeeping and Piracy’. Oliveira lists the following as the main UN peacekeeping missions with support naval components: Palestine (1947–48); Korea (1950–53); Egypt (1956–57); Congo (1960– 64); West New Guinea (1962–63); Cyprus (1964); Mozambique–Rhodesia (1965–75); Persian Gulf (1990–91); Gulf of Fonseca (1990–92); Cambodia (1992–94); Somalia (1992–95); Adriatic Sea (1992–96); Haiti (1993–94); Albania (1997); East Timor (1999–2002); and Lebanon (2006 to the present). MINUSTAH acquired a naval component starting in 2008, with Uruguay's contribution through URUMAR, tasked with patrolling the territorial waters in collaboration with the Haitian Coast Guard.

14 UN, ‘Middle East – UNEF I'.

15 The efforts began after a series of UN Security Council resolutions authorized all states and regional organizations with necessary capacity to deploy warship and military aircraft in Somali territorial water to repress piracy and armed robbery at sea. Japan, China, Russia, India, Malaysia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Yemen, as well as three coalitions led by the USA, the EU and NATO have carried out naval operations.

16 Countries presently contributing to CTF-150 include Canada, Denmark, France, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. Other nations who have participated include Australia, Italy, India, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Thailand and Turkey.

17 See Staley, The Wave of the Future; McLaughlin, United Nations Naval Peace Operations; Wirtz and Larsen, Naval Peacekeeping.

18 UN, ‘Resolution 425 (1978)’, S/RES/425; and UN Security Council, ‘Resolution 426′, S/RES/426.

19 Zwitter, ‘Hybridization of Peacekeeping'.

20 The first significant mandate revisions followed the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, when Israeli forces reached and surrounded Beirut. For the next three years, UNIFIL stayed behind the Israeli lines, and its role was limited to providing protection and humanitarian assistance to the local population. The second occasion was the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, in June 2000, after a 22-year long occupation. In its aftermath, UNIFIL's area of operation remained generally quiet, except for occasional minor violations of the Blue Line and breaches of the cease-fire. Nonetheless, in a July 2000 report, the UN Secretary-General warned that the potential for recurring instability still existed. See UNSC, Report of the Secretary-General.

21 AP, ‘Lebanon Sees More than 1000 War Deaths’, 28 Dec. 2006, and Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ‘Israel-Hizbullah Conflict’.

22 Makdisi, ‘Constructing Security Council Resolution’.

23 UNSC, Resolution 1701.

24 AL Monitor, ‘UNIFIL's Uncertain Future.

25 Murphy, ‘Peacekeeping in Lebanon.

26 Houri, ‘Prospects and Challenges'.

27 BBC News, ‘UN Urges Israel’.

28 Lebanese Republic, ‘Letter of Prime Minister Siniora to Secretary-General Kofi Annan’, Beirut, 6 Sept. 2006.

29 UNSC, Resolution 1701.

30 UN, ‘UNIFIL Maritime Task Force'.

31 The first 12 of the Area constitute Lebanese legal waters, while the rest are international waters.

32 This task is related to the objective of establishing between the Blue Line and the Litani River an area free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons, other than those of the Government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL: http://utasktasknifil.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=11561&language=en-US (accessed 2 Dec. 2015).

33 Upon request by the LAF-Navy, the MTF also boards and inspects suspect ships itself. See UN, ‘UNIFIL Maritime Task Force'.

34 Interview with Navy officer, Rio de Janeiro, Jan. 2015; and UNIFIL, ‘Maritime Task Force's Role’.

35 See, for instance, Trinkunas, Brazil's Rise.

36 Diniz, ‘Peacekeeping'.

37 See, for instance, MRE, ‘Speech’.

38 Stuenkel and Tourinho, ‘Regulating Intervention'.

39 Presidência da República, ‘Discurso do Presidente’.

40 Ministério da Defesa (2012) Livro Branco de Defesa Nacional.

41 BBC, ‘Pirataria e terrorismo’.

42 Abdenur and Marcondes, Brazil in the South Atlantic.

43 Seabra, ‘A Harder Edge'.

44 Even before the formation of the UN, Brazil contributed to multinational peacekeeping efforts; during the 1930s, it played an important role in mediating the Leticia conflict between Colombia and Peru.

45 Regionally, Brazil also contributed to Organization of American States (OAS) efforts in the Caribbean and to the Military Observer Mission Ecuador-Peru (MOMEP), a multinational mission from the guarantor countries of the 1942 Rio Protocol (along with Argentina, Chile and the USA) tasked with supervising the cease-fire and separation of forces during the 1995 Cenepa war between Ecuador and Peru.

46 Fontoura, O Brasil.

47 Exército Brasileiro, ‘Missões de Paz'.

48 Brazil initially sent 1,200 personnel (not counting the Force Commander and staff) to MINUSTAH. This number increased to around 2,200 after the 2010 earthquake.

49 Kenkel, ‘South America's Emerging Power'.

50 Marcondes, ‘O Brasil'.

51 CCOPAB, ‘Missões com participações.

52 In May 2013, Brazil was the 11th top troop contributing country, with some 2,200 military and a few police officers deployed. UN, ‘Peacekeeping Statistics.

53 See, for instance, CCOPAB, ‘CCOPAB MMT Continues’.

54 Tahiane Stochero, ‘Gasto do Brasil com defesa é “tão baixo”, diz chefe de missões da ONU', O Globo [Rio de Janeiro], 22 Sept. 2012, http://g1.globo.com/mundo/noticia/2012/09/gasto-do-brasil-com-defesa-e-tao-baixo-diz-chefe-de-missoes-da-onu.html.

55 Crandall, Hemispheric Giants, p. 180.

56 Jonathan Watts, ‘Brazil in Crisis Mode as Ruling Party Sees Public Trust Rapidly Dissolving', Guardian [London], 17 Mar. 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/17/brazil-crisis-petrobas-scandal-dilma-rousseff-protests.

57 Portal Brasil, ‘Forças Armadas brasileiras

58 Yaakov Katz, ‘Israel Concerned about UNIFIL Takeover’, Jerusalem Post [Jerusalem], 28 Apr. 2010, www.jpost.com/Israel/Israel-concerned-about-UNIFIL-takeover.

59 Brazil also formally recognized the Palestinian state in 2010, according to the borders of pre-1967, but has continued to pursue deeper relations with Israel.

60 Hirst and Nasser, Brazil's Involvement.

61 Brazil has lost 26 troops in MINUSTAH, including 18 personnel who perished during the 2010 earthquake; seven in UNEF, four in UNAVEM, and one each in United Nations Observer Mission in Angola, United Nations Observer Mission in El Salvador, United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor and United Nations Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq. Source: UN Peacekeeping, ‘Fatalities by Nationality and Mission'.

62 UNIFIL has had 275 fatalities since 1978.

63 See, for instance, Presidência da República, ‘Lei No. 10.937'.

64 Folha de São Paulo, ‘ONU reembolsou 26%’.

65 Senado Federal, ‘Plenário aprova envio’.

66 Ibid.

67 In recent years, the Brazilian Government has actively backed the successful candidacies of Brazilians to the positions of Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (José Graziano da Silva) and Director-General of the World Trade Organization (Roberto Azevêdo).

68 Interview with Navy official conducted in Rio de Janeiro, Jan. 2015.

69 Fontoura, O Brasil, 229.

70 UNIFIL, ‘FAQs'.

71 Marcelo Ninio, ‘Brasil mandará Amorim para Annapolis', Folha de São Paulo, 22 Nov. 2007.

72 Interview with senior Brazilian diplomat, Rio de Janeiro, Feb. 2015.

73 Remarks by Brazilian diplomat made at the workshop ‘International Cooperation in Health and Brazilian Foreign Policy’, organized by Fiocruz at the Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, 12–13 Jan. 2014.

74 After the inaugural meeting in Brasília, in 2005, summits were held in Doha, Qatar (Mar. 2009) and Lima, Peru (Oct. 2012).

75 DefesaNet, ‘Militares que vão integrar missão da ONU nno Líbano recebem orientações no Ministério da Defesa’, 16 Oct. 2014.

76 This was not the first time the Brazilian government called upon cultural ties to help justify participation in UN peacekeeping; in the case of MINUSTAH, the MRE had stressed (among other criteria) that Brazil and Haiti shared African cultural roots, evoking the idea of solidarity so as to justify the official government posture of non-indifference.

77 Senado Federal, ‘Comunidade libanesa no Brasil é maior que população do Líbano’, Brasília, 22 Apr. 2010.

78 Senado Federal, ‘Simon destaca exposição que comemora visita do imperador Dom Pedro II ao Líbano’, Brasília, 24 Nov. 2011.

79 Merli, ‘Missão da sociedade'.

80 Agência de Notícias Brasil-Árabe, ‘Fundação leva’.

81 DefesaNet, ‘UNIFIL – Militares que vão integrar missão da ONU no Líbano recebem orientações no Ministério da Defesa’, 16 Oct. 2014.

82 MRE, O Brasil.

83 Brazil donated medications to the Lebanese government. Brazil's humanitarian cooperation included the donation of 5.2 tons of food and 10 medicine kits, each capable of reaching up to 9,000 people. Brazil also attended a request by the Syrian government with five medicine kits. MRE, ‘Cooperação Humanitária'.

84 Ibid.

85 Ibid.

86 Coordenação-Geral de Ações Internacionais de Combate à Fome, ‘Doação de medicamentos'.

87 The number of refugees in Brazil nearly doubled between 2011 and 2015, rising from 4,218 to 8,400. According to the Ministry of Justice, the majority of refugees living in Brazil (2,077 individuals) come from Syria and arrived since the beginning of the civil war. Lebanese are the fifth largest group (389), after arrivals from Angola (1,480), Colombia (1,093) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (844). Ministério da Justiça, ‘Brasi bate recorde'.

88 Senado Federal, ‘Plenário aprova envio'.

89 According to the Federal Police, inadequate vigilance has contributed to the increasing use of maritime routes to smuggle arms into Brazil, which already has high levels of armed violence.

90 Maurício Moraes, ‘Brasil vai liderar força maritime da ONU no Líbano', R7, 19 Jan. 2011, http://noticias.r7.com/internacional/noticias/brasil-vai-liderar-forca-maritima-da-onu-no-libano-20110119.html (accessed 2 Dec. 2015).

91 Marinha do Brasil, ‘Missão das Nações Unidas Haiti'.

92 The Army (partly because it is far larger than the Navy) has sent many more troops to UN peacekeeping missions, and within the Navy, it is the Marines who make up the vast majority of military personnel deployments. Some military personnel deployed to UNIFIL have previously served in MINUSTAH, indicating that there is also some overlap, and thus continuity, in Brazil's engagement in these missions.

93 Hirst and Nasser, Brazil's Involvement.

94 DefesaNet, ‘UNIFIL – Militares brasileiros se preparam para assumer missão no Líbano’, 21 Oct. 2014.

95 Interview with Navy official, Rio de Janeiro, Jan. 2015.

96 For instance, CCOPAB has hosted a series of commander and staff courses for the MTF aimed at familiarizing the officers with the specific requirements of the mission. Brazilian officers who are serving in the mission and who have been recently demobilized participate in the training modules. Brazilian Peace Operations Joint Training Center Sergio Vieira de Mello, ‘Another Edition’.

97 Since then, the frigates ‘Liberal', ‘Constituição’ and ‘União’ have alternated in this position. As of late 2014, the ninth Brazilian contingent was being deployed to UNIFIL. The first Brazilian commander, of the MTF, Rear Admiral Luiz Henrique Caroli, was put in charge of eight ships with 800 personnel from five countries: Germany; Greece; Turkey; Indonesia; and Bangladesh. The command handover also marked the first time a Brazilian Navy ship was incorporated into a UN peacekeeping mission. Marinha do Brasil, ‘Força Tarefa Marítima’.

98 Ministério da Defesa, ‘Brasileiros que vão integrar missão’.

99 Poder Naval, ‘Marinha do Brasil divulga fotos do resgate de refugiados, pela corveta Barroso, no Mediterrâneo', 5 Sept. 2015.

100 Interview with Brazilian Navy officer who previously served in the UNIFIL MTF, Rio de Janeiro, Jan. 2015.