The BNP on Monday demanded the immediate withdrawal of the statement of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee regarding the deployment of UN peacekeepers in Bangladesh, describing it as a threat to the country's independence and sovereignty. Party Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, currently in the UK, made the demand during a phone conversation with UNB. “What the West Bengal Chief Minister said about sending peacekeepers to Bangladesh is completely a threat to the independence and sovereignty of our country,” he said. Dhaka sharply reacts over “heinous attack” on its Agartala mission The BNP leader said the attitudes of the Indian leaders have been exposed to some extent through this statement. “I think West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should immediately withdraw her statement. She should not have any such thoughts as the people of Bangladesh gained independence through the Liberation War and recently they got back democracy through a revolution,” he said. Fakhrul termed Mamata’s remarks a plot against Bangladesh and said the people will prevent any conspiracy at any cost. Indian media on Monday reported that West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee urged the central government to seek the deployment of a peacekeeping mission by the Union Nations in Bangladesh to tackle the ongoing situation there. Indian media spreading propaganda about Bangladesh: Home Affairs Adviser "We have families... properties... and loved ones in Bangladesh. We accept whatever stance the Government of India takes on this...but we condemn atrocities on religious grounds anywhere in the world and appeal to the union government, and the Prime Minister, to intervene," NDTV quoted Mamata as saying. Fakhrul alleged that false stories being spread and published in the Indian media about the deterioration or endangerment of communal harmony in Bangladesh is unacceptable in any way. “The Indian journalists came to Bangladesh and they also saw the ground reality. Many renowned journalists from West Bengal also visited our country and they did not find such a situation,” he said. The BNP leader said the people of Bangladesh will never accept the way the Indian media and their leaders are spreading a complete lie and threatening the independence and sovereignty of its neighbouring country. He also said it is very unfortunate what the Indian media and politicians are saying about Bangladesh. The BNP leader mentioned that a fresh conspiracy has recently started in Bangladesh involving ISKCON. “It is very clear that the recent role of ISKCON is suspicious, mysterious, and a threat to the independence and sovereignty of Bangladesh, as well as to its stability.” Meanwhile, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi strongly protested the West Bengal Chief Minister’s comments, saying she has undermined Bangladesh’s sovereignty and independence. "It is a direct threat and interference in an independent country. The people of Bangladesh are shocked and surprised by the statement made by the West Bengal Chief Minister," Rizvi said at a press briefing at the party’s Nayapaltan central office. He also questioned Mamata’s intention behind her comments regarding the deployment of UN peacekeepers in Bangladesh. The BNP leader urged all, including members of Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, and Christian communities, to remain vigilant against the plots by India.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon said Israeli tanks “forcibly entered” one of its positions on Sunday, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded it leave the area. International criticism is growing after Israeli forces have repeatedly fired on U.N. peacekeepers since the start of its ground operation in Lebanon. Five peacekeepers have been wounded in attacks that struck their positions in recent days, most of them blamed on Israeli forces. As Israel escalates its ground invasion against Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, the 10,000-strong peacekeeping force is increasingly in the crosshairs. Relations have worsened between Israel and the United Nations over the way Israel has conducted its war in Gaza. In an unprecedented move, Israel earlier this month said the U.N. secretary-general was persona non grata in Israel. The spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called Sunday's events “deeply worrying.” Netanyahu called for UNIFIL to heed Israel’s warnings to evacuate, accusing them of “providing a human shield” to Hezbollah. Read: Heavy Israeli bombardment in northern Gaza as UN peacekeepers in Lebanon hit again Here’s a look at the U.N. force and the latest developments: What is UNIFIL? The U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon was created in 1978 to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops after Israel invaded and occupied southern Lebanon. Israel invaded again in 1982, and it wasn't until 2000 that it withdrew. In the absence of an agreed-upon border, the U.N. drew up a boundary between Lebanon and Israel known as the Blue Line, which UNIFIL monitors and patrols. The United Nations expanded UNIFIL’s mission following the monthlong 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, allowing peacekeepers to deploy along the Israeli border to monitor the cessation of hostilities and patrol a buffer zone along the border. The force currently has around 10,000 peacekeepers in southern Lebanon drawn from around 50 countries. They patrol, monitor and report violations of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 fighting. The force also provides support to local communities. What are the latest developments? Tensions have been mounting since Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon earlier this month. Israel asked UNIFIL to move its personnel further north, and the peacekeeping force refused. On Thursday, UNIFIL said an Israeli tank “directly” fired on its headquarters in the town of Naqoura, knocking down an observation tower and injuring two Indonesian peacekeepers. It said its headquarters and nearby positions “have been repeatedly hit” and Israel “deliberately” fired on and disabled the headquarters’ monitoring cameras. On Friday, UNIFIL said new explosions hit its headquarters, injuring two peacekeepers, although it did not directly blame Israel. It also said an Israeli army bulldozer hit the perimeter of another position in southern Lebanon while Israeli tanks moved nearby. On Saturday, UNIFIL said its headquarters in Naqoura was hit again, with a peacekeeper struck by gunfire late Friday and in stable condition. It wasn’t clear who fired. On Sunday, UNIFIL said two Israeli tanks broke into a base and later fired smoke rounds near peacekeepers there. It said 15 U.N. peacekeepers had skin irritation and gastrointestinal reactions. The Israeli troops stayed for 45 minutes, putting the mission in danger, the statement said. What has Israel said? The Israeli army has expressed deep concern over Thursday's incident and said it is conducting a thorough review at the highest levels of command. On Friday, it said its soldiers were responding with fire to an immediate threat against them. It didn't respond to questions Saturday. On Sunday, Israel’s military said a tank trying to evacuate wounded soldiers backed into a U.N. post while under fire. It said a smoke screen was used to provide cover. Read more: At least 22 killed in airstrikes in central Beirut, with Israel also firing on UN peacekeepers Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, asserted that Israel has only aimed at Hezbollah, and said Israel has tried to maintain constant contact with UNIFIL. The military has asserted that Hezbollah operates in the vicinity of the peacekeepers, without providing evidence. Late Sunday, it asserted that Hezbollah had launched about 25 rockets and missiles from compounds near UNIFIL posts in the past month, with one attack killing two soldiers. “We regret the injury to the UNIFIL soldiers, and we are doing everything in our power to prevent this injury," Netanyahu said Sunday. "But the simple and obvious way to ensure this is simply to get them out of the danger zone,” he added in a video addressed to the U.N. secretary-general. Israel has long accused the United Nations of being biased against it, and relations have plunged further since the start of the war in Gaza. On Sunday, Israel's military showed The Associated Press what it said was a pair of tunnel entrances and a small arms cache used by Hezbollah a few hundred meters (yards) from UNIFIL watchtowers along the border. Brig. Gen. Yiftach Norkin said it should have been visible to UNIFIL. The entrances were also within sight of an Israeli military outpost on the border. The entire AP visit was under military escort. How does this affect the mission? Israel's demands for the peacekeepers to evacuate the border area and move north would effectively impede the force from doing its mission. The U.N. peacekeeping chief, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that UNIFIL wouldn't evacuate its personnel, but because of air and ground attacks it can't conduct patrols. He said UNIFIL operations have virtually come to a halt since late September, when Israel expanded its campaign against Hezbollah. He added that the security environment has also challenged the resupply of fuel, food and water for U.N. positions. Lacroix later said 300 peacekeepers in front-line positions had been temporarily moved to larger bases. He said UNIFIL had decided to reduce its footprint “at the most affected U.N. positions by 25%.” On Oct. 3, he told reporters that in some places in southern Lebanon, the number of peacekeepers had been reduced by about 20%.

Palestinians in northern Gaza described heavy Israeli bombardment Saturday in the hours after airstrikes killed at least 22 people, as Israel warned people there and in southern Lebanon to get out of the way of offensives against the Hamas and Hezbollah militant groups. In Lebanon, the U.N. peacekeeping force said its headquarters in Naqoura was hit again, with a peacekeeper struck by gunfire late Friday and in stable condition. It wasn’t clear who fired. It occurred a day after Israel’s military fired on the headquarters for a second straight day. Israel, which has warned peacekeepers to leave their positions, didn’t immediately respond to questions. Hunger warnings emerged again in northern Gaza as residents said they hadn't received aid since the beginning of the month. The U.N. World Food Program said no food aid had entered the north since Oct. 1. An estimated 400,000 people remain there. Israel’s military renewed its offensive in northern Gaza almost a week ago while escalating its air and ground campaign against the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. Amid Israel's war with Hezbollah, a top U.N. official, Carl Skau, told The Associated Press he's concerned that Lebanon’s ports and airport might be taken out of service. More than 1 million people have been displaced. Israel’s military said Hezbollah fired more than 300 projectiles over Yom Kippur, the holiest and most solemn day on the Jewish calendar. Hezbollah claimed a series of rocket strikes on Israeli military positions and said fighters engaged an Israeli infantry unit attempting to enter Lebanese territory. Israel's military also said it killed 50 militants in Lebanon. Claims on either side couldn’t be verified. Israeli airstrikes on Saturday hit multiple areas in southern and eastern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Nine were killed in Maisra village in the northeast. Four were killed in an apartment building on the edge of Barja south of Beirut. Rayak and Tal Chiha hospitals in the Bekaa Valley were damaged. In Nabatieh, eight people were wounded. The total toll in Lebanon over the past year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is now 2,255 killed, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. More than 1,400 people have been killed since mid-September. It isn't clear how many were fighters. Read: Israel intensifies bombardment of Gaza and southern Lebanon ahead of Oct. 7 anniversary “We will keep standing with the Lebanese people during these difficult circumstances and also with the Palestinian people,” the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said Saturday while touring the scene of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut. Some Gaza residents are trapped In northern Gaza, residents told the AP many were trapped in their homes and shelters with dwindling supplies while seeing bodies uncollected in the streets as the bombing hampered emergency responders. Those who rushed to the scene of the latest deadly airstrikes in the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya found a hole 20 meters (65 feet) deep where a home once stood. At least 20 bodies were recovered while others likely were under rubble, emergency service officials said. Elsewhere in Jabaliya, a strike on a home killed two brothers and wounded a woman and newborn baby, the officials said. An afternoon strike on a home killed at least four people, including a woman, said Fares Abu Hamza, an official with the emergency service. Israel’s military said it killed more than 20 militants in the Jabaliya area over the past day. Military spokesperson Avichay Adraee told people in parts of Jabaliya and Gaza City to evacuate south to an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone as Israel plans to use great force “and will continue to do so for a long time.” Israel has repeatedly returned to parts of Gaza as Hamas and other militants regroup. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times. Once again, some families moved south on foot, in donkey carts or crowded in vehicles that navigated piles of rubble. Others refused to go. “It’s like the first days of the war,” said a Jabaliya resident, Ahmed Abu Goneim. “The occupation is doing everything to uproot us. But we will not leave.” The 24-year-old said Israeli warplanes and drones struck many neighboring houses in the past week. He counted 15 relatives and neighbors, including four women and five children as young as 3, killed in neighboring homes. Read more: Israel expands its bombardment in Lebanon as thousands flee widening war Hamza Sharif, who stays with his family in a school-turned-shelter in Jabaliya, described “constant bombings day and night.” He said the shelter hasn't received aid since the beginning of the month and that families “will run out of supplies very soon.” Food is running out The World Food Program said it was unclear how long the limited food supplies it distributed in northern Gaza earlier will last. The U.N.’s independent investigator on the right to food last month accused Israel of carrying out a “starvation campaign” against Palestinians, which Israel has denied. Israel's offensive in Gaza started after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, when militants stormed into Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 others. Israel’s offensive has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who don't specify between combatants and civilians. Gaza’s Health Ministry said that hospitals had received the bodies of 49 people killed over the past 24 hours. The U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant on Saturday to express his “deep concern” about reports that Israeli forces fired on UN peacekeeping positions in Lebanon, as well as the reported death of two Lebanese soldiers, according to a Pentagon statement. Austin said it was important to ensure the safety and security of UNIFIL forces and Lebanese Armed Forces, and “reinforced the need to pivot from military operations in Lebanon to a diplomatic pathway as soon as feasible," according to the statement. The U.S. Secretary of Defense also said steps must be taken to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and reaffirmed the United States' “unwavering, enduring, and ironclad commitment to Israel's security,” according to the statement.

Israeli airstrikes on central Beirut Thursday left two neighborhoods smoldering, killing 22 people and wounding dozens, Lebanon’s health ministry said, as well as further escalating Israel’s bloody conflict with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. The air raid on central Beirut — the deadliest in over a year of war — apparently targeted two residential buildings in separate neighborhoods simultaneously, according to an AP photographer at the scene. It brought down one eight-story building and wiped out the lower floors of the other. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reported strikes. Israeli airstrikes have been far more common in Beirut’s tightly packed southern suburbs, where Hezbollah bases many of its operations. After the strikes, Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV reported that an attempt to kill Wafiq Safa, a top security official with the group, had failed. It said that Safa had not been inside of either of the targeted buildings. Thursday's strikes followed a year of tit-for-tat exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel that boiled over into all-out war in recent weeks, with Israel carrying out waves of heavy strikes across Lebanon and launching a ground invasion. Hezbollah has expanded its rocket fire to more populated areas deeper inside Israel, causing few casualties but disrupting daily life. The attack came the same day as Israeli forces fired on United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon and wounded two of them, drawing widespread condemnation and prompting Italy's Defense Ministry to summon Israel’s ambassador in protest. Israeli strikes hit central Beirut Witnesses reported a large number of ambulances and people gathering in the rubble of two Beirut sites that were hit, in the Ras al-Nabaa neighborhood and Burj Abi Haidar area. The Lebanese Health Ministry said 22 people were killed and 117 others wounded, without elaborating on their identities. Recent Israeli airstrikes in neighborhoods adjoining Beirut, in particular the densely populated southern suburbs, have killed Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and other senior commanders. Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in support of Hamas and the Palestinians, drawing Israeli airstrikes in retaliation. Hezbollah kept up rocket fire into Israel on Thursday, setting off air raid sirens in parts of northern Israel. Several drones heading toward Israel were intercepted, the military said. Iran — which supports Hamas, Hezbollah and other armed groups across the region — launched some 180 ballistic missiles at Israel last week in retaliation for the killing of top Hamas and Hezbollah militants. Read: Israeli strike on school-turned-shelterin Gaza kills 27 Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday that its response to the Iranian missile attack will be “lethal” and “surprising,” without providing further details, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with President Joe Biden. Asked about the latest airstrikes in Lebanon, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters in Las Vegas, “We have got to reach a cease-fire, both as it relates to what’s happening in Lebanon, and of course Gaza. We are working around the clock in that regard, but we need these wars to end and we’ve got to definitely de-escalate what is happening in the region.” Before the latest strikes, Lebanon’s crisis response unit said Israeli attacks over the past day had killed 28 people, bringing the total to 2,169 killed in Lebanon since the war erupted last October. Hezbollah attacks have killed 28 civilians as well as 39 Israeli soldiers, both in northern Israel since October 2023 and southern Lebanon since Israel launched its ground invasion on Sept. 30. Israel says the invasion, so far focused on a narrow strip along the border, aims to push militants back so that tens of thousands of Israelis can return to their homes in the north. UN peacekeepers caught in intensified fighting in Lebanon The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, said in a statement that its headquarters and positions “have been repeatedly hit" by Israeli forces. It said an Israeli tank “directly” fired on an observation tower at the force’s headquarters in the town of Naqoura, Lebanon, and that soldiers had attacked a bunker near where peacekeepers were sheltering, damaging vehicles and a communication system. It said an Israeli drone was seen flying to the bunker’s entrance. The two UNIFIL troops wounded in the attacks and hospitalized are Indonesian, Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said. The Israeli military acknowledged opening fire at a U.N. base in southern Lebanon on Thursday and said it had ordered the peacekeepers to “remain in protected spaces.” Later Thursday, the U.N. peacekeeping chief said 300 peacekeepers in frontline positions on southern Lebanon’s border have been temporarily moved to larger bases, and plans to move another 200 will depend on security conditions as the conflict escalates. Jean-Pierre Lacroix told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that peacekeepers with UNIFIL are staying in their positions, but because of air and ground attacks they cannot conduct patrols. UNIFIL, which has more than 10,000 peacekeepers from dozens of countries, was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel’s 1978 invasion. The United Nations expanded its mission following the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, allowing peacekeepers to patrol a buffer zone set up along the border. Israel accuses Hezbollah of establishing militant infrastructure along the border in violation of the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Read more: Israeli defense minister warns an attack on Iran would be ‘lethal’ and ‘surprising’ The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, sharply condemned Israeli strikes that hit UNIFIL positions as “an inadmissible act, for which there is no justification.” From Italy, which has about 1,000 soldiers deployed as part of UNIFIL, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto went further, claimed Israel deliberately targeted the UNIFIL base in southern Lebanon in strikes that “could constitute war crimes.” Several other countries, including France, Spain and Jordan, also denounced the Israeli attacks. Aid group says staff killed in strike on school Even as attention has shifted to Israel’s close combat with Hezbollah in Lebanon and rising tensions with Iran, Israel has continued to strike at what it says are Palestinian militant targets across the Gaza Strip. Earlier on Thursday, an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people in central Gaza killed at least 27 people, Palestinian medical officials said. The Israeli military said it targeted Palestinian militants, but people sheltering there said the strike hit a meeting of aid workers. The dead included a child and seven women, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the bodies were brought. An Associated Press reporter saw ambulances streaming into the hospital and counted the bodies, many of which arrived in pieces. The Israeli military said it targeted a militant center inside the school, without providing evidence. Israel has repeatedly attacked schools that were turned into shelters in Gaza, accusing militants of taking cover in them. “There were no militants. There was no Hamas,” said Iftikhar Hamouda, who had fled from northern Gaza earlier in the war. “We headed to tents. They bombed the tents ... In the streets, they bombed us. In the markets, they bombed us. In the schools, they bombed us,” she said. “Where should we go?” Israel's offensive in Gaza started after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, when militants stormed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 others. Israel’s offensive has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not specify between militants and civilians. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times.

Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN Ambassador Muhammad Abdul Muhith has said the attacks against the peacekeepers must be dealt with seriously. "Reinvigorated efforts and initiatives are needed by all stakeholders to ensure and promote accountability for crimes against peacekeepers," he said while speaking at the launching event of “Group of Friends to Promote Accountability for Crime against Peacekeepers” at the UN Headquarters recently. Six countries – Bangladesh, Egypt, France, India, Morocco and Nepal as co-chairs have launched the “Group of Friends to Promote Accountability for Crime against Peacekeepers”. In the launching event, the External Affairs Minister of India Dr. S Jaishankar delivered the keynote speech. While the Permanent Representatives of five other co-chair countries, including Bangladesh delivered statements. Also read: Bangladesh’s achievements made it an example for other countries to emulate: UN The Under-Secretary General of the Department of Peace Operations, Jean Pierre Lacroix and the representative from the Department of Operational Support also addressed the meeting, according to a media release. In the keynote speech, mentioning that upholding accountability for crimes against UN peacekeepers is a multi-stakeholders’ task, the Indian External Affairs Minister emphasised on regular monitoring and follow-up on accountability issues. Bangladesh Permanent Representative Muhith mentioned that Bangladesh’s commitment to the peacekeeping operations comes from the vision of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for a peaceful world.   He emphasised on effective engagement with the host state, swift investigation into the incidents, capacity building of the host state, use of digital technology and addressing misinformation and disinformation campaigns against the peacekeepers as critical issues in order to ensure and promote accountability for crimes against peacekeepers. This Group of Friends will act as a platform to promote accountability for all acts of violence against the  United Nations peacekeepers by facilitating support to the host state, creating awareness, exchanging information, sharing best practices, supporting initiatives, and mobilizing resources. On the day of launching, 36 member-states joined the newly formed Group of Friends, the media release said.

The more than 87,000 personnel in U.N. peacekeeping missions are confronting greater threats today because conflicts have become more complex and are driven by an increasing number of factors ranging from ethnic tensions and the impact of organized crime to illegal exploitation of resources and terrorism, the U.N. peacekeeping chief said Friday. Jean-Pierre Lacroix said in an interview with The Associated Press that even compared to two or three years ago, “most of our peacekeeping missions have a political and security environment that has deteriorated.” In addition and “equally important," he said, is that the conflicts are “multi-layered" and very often local and national, but also regional and global. He pointed to Africa's impoverished Sahel region, which is seeing increasing terrorist activity, as an example. Read: UN official: Myanmar people want UN sanctions, peacekeepers What is causing this change in how U.N. peacekeepers have to operate are a number of factors starting with increased political divisions among the U.N.’s 193 member nations, he said. The drivers of conflict are increasing, Lacroix said, and there are also what he called “conflict enhancers,” including digital technologies, the impact of fake news and misinformation on conflicts, and “armed groups using increasingly sophisticated means to undermine our actions.” The U.N. currently has 12 far-flung peacekeeping operations — six in Africa, four in the Middle East, one in Europe and one in Asia — with the more than 66,000 military personnel from 121 countries joined by over 7,000 international police and 14,000 civilians. Lacroix said peacekeepers continue to make “a huge difference” in countries where they oversee cease-fires like Cyprus and south Lebanon in terms of preventing conflict, and “they also make a huge difference in terms of protection of civilians, even though we would like to be able to do more.” But the undersecretary-general for peace operations said the drivers of conflict “are massively impacting the conflicts in which we’re involved.” “They pose increasingly important threats to countries in which our missions are deployed, and frankly to the region where we are operating,” he said. “Are we equipped enough as a multilateral system to address these threats?" Lacroix asked rhetorically. “I’m not sure. I think there’s probably more that should be done in those areas.” He called an upcoming ministerial meeting on U.N. peacekeeping in Seoul, South Korea on Dec. 7-8 an important opportunity to improve the performance and impact of peacekeepers and “the effectiveness of our tools,” and to mobilize international support for these efforts. Lacroix said “a significant number” of ministers and senior officials from all U.N. member states are expected in Seoul, stressing that high-level participation is “critically important” as an expression of support for U.N. peacekeeping, which is funded by a separate U.N. budget amounting to $6.38 billion for the year ending June 30, 2022, as well as voluntary contributions. He said the peacekeeping department has circulated a list to U.N. member nations of what it needs to improve the protection of peacekeepers against ambushes, improvised explosive devices and attacks, and to protect their camps. The list also includes improved medical support and equipment to make peacekeepers more nimble, mobile and reactive, especially more helicopters, he said. Lacroix said there are two other very important areas: improving the missions’ ability to collect and process information to better prevent threats instead of having to react to them, and increasing the number of women in peacekeeping operations “because we know for a fact that more women in peacekeeping means more effective peacekeeping.” He said it will be “tremendously important” to have governments support the department’s “strategy for the digital transformation of peacekeeping because we strongly believe that if we make the best possible use of these new technologies, then it can be a game changer for peacekeeping.” Read: Another UN peacekeeper killed in Mali, 5th in a week To do that, he said, the U.N. has to improve what he called “the digital literacy of peacekeeping and our peacekeepers,” which means more training. If the peacekeeping department and peacekeepers are better at using digital technology, the men and women in the field can be better protected, Lacroix said. “We can probably better communicate and also counter misinformation,” and the U.N. can better collect and process information “in a way that can enable effective action," he said. But Lacroix said if peacekeeping is to succeed — “which is to create the conditions where peacekeeping missions can leave” — it is “critically important” that governments support political efforts to achieve this goal. He said there must also be a recognition that more and more peacekeeping operations are part of broader efforts and partnerships that can build different capacities, including security, or help provide humanitarian assistance in places like Congo, South Sudan or Mali. “We have to make sure that we are playing a role where you can make the best possible difference, and other partners have to have that same approach, and we need to be complementary to each other,” Lacroix said.

The UN will honour eight fallen peacekeepers from Bangladesh to mark the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers on Thursday. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said their service and sacrifices will never be forgotten, according to a press release from the UN Information Centre (UNIC) in Dhaka. Guterres will preside over a ceremony at which the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal will be awarded posthumously to 129 military, police and civilian peacekeepers, including the eight from Bangladesh.  They lost their lives serving under the UN flag last year and in the first month of this year, the release said. Also read: Bangladesh calls for greater int’l efforts for safety, security of peacekeepers He will lay a wreath to honour more than 4,000 UN peacekeepers who have lost their lives since 1948. The fallen Bangladeshi peacekeepers are Abdul Md Halim who served with MINUSMA; LCpl Md Abdulla Al Mamun and Sgt Mohammad Ibrahim who served with United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), Sgt Md Mobarak Hussain, LCl Md Saiful ISLAM, Md Saiful Imam Bhuiyan and Sgt Md Ziaur RAHMAN who were deployed with the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO); and Washerman Nurul AMIN of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).  Bangladesh is the largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN Peacekeeping.  Also read: UN lauds Bangladesh's peacekeepers It currently deploys more than 6,600 military and police personnel to the UN operations in Abyei, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lebanon, Mali, South Sudan, and Western Sahara.  In a message to mark the Day, the Secretary-General said: “I express my deep gratitude to the 85,000 civilian, police and military personnel currently deployed in some of the world’s most challenging hotspots to protect the vulnerable and help to build peace. The theme for this year’s observance is “The road to a lasting peace: Leveraging the power of youth for peace and security.” Read Dhaka seeks strong global resolve to end Palestinian crisis permanently

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Sunday said the nature of peacekeeping has changed due to the use of advanced technology and sophisticated weapons, the misuse of social media and the ongoing global epidemic. He made the remarks at the “Army Chiefs' Conclave” at multipurpose complex of Dhaka Cantonment. Bangladesh Army organised the seminar with the participation of local and foreign military and civilian dignitaries. Also read: Bangladesh tops in UN Peacekeeping Mission Foreign Minister Momen said meaningful mutual cooperation, increased participation of women and development of health-related emergencies were essential to address the challenges posed by this unprecedented global epidemic in establishing world peace. The main topic of discussion at the seminar was ‘Future Trend of Global Conflict: The Role of UN Peacekeepers’.

Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN Ambassador Rabab Fatima has reiterated the importance of ensuring safety and security of the peacekeepers.