UNIFIL: Blue Helmets meet Adshit A Qusayr village Children

Italian soldiers, part of the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon, met local Children at their base in Adshit A Qusayr village, Marjayoun district.

 In recent days, the Italian soldiers of the UNIFIL mission have met about fifty children in the UN base at the Adshit A Qusayr village in the Marjayoun district, Southern Lebanon. Children, aged between 5 and 12, accompanied by members of the International Non-Governmental Organisation AVSI (International Service Volunteers Association) for the first time had the opportunity to live an experience in contact with peacekeepers.

The event was organised and coordinated by the UNIFIL CIMIC UNIT, in which Italian soldiers pertaining to the Multinational CIMIC Group, a Multinational and Joint HQ specialized in civil-military cooperation and located in Motta di Livenza (TV), operate. During the day with the Blue Helmets, the children were able to interact with Italian, Indonesian, Irish and Sierra Leone peacekeepers, witnessing traditional Indonesian dances and musical performances, and could see firsthand some of the means used by the UN military.

The young visitors where able to spend an atypical day, and partake in a unique experience, interacting with the Blue Helmets who explained the mission's tasks and aims, further strengthening the ties with and image of the UNIFIL contingent. The Italian CIMIC military personnel in South Lebanon, in full respect of United Nations Security Council Resolution n. 1701, conduct operational activities aimed at increasing the confidence of local inhabitants towards the Mission, maintaining situational awareness and interacting with the population, local authorities and international organisations present in the territory.

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