Brian Urquhart
 Brian Urquhart    ( military officer, diplomat) | |
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| Born | 28 February 1919 |
| Died | 2 January 2021 (Age 101) |
| Member of | "The New Humanitarians", Federal Trust |
Brian Edward Urquhart was a British Army officer, politician and writer. He played a significant role in the founding of the United Nations. He went on to serve as its Under-Secretary-General for Special Political Affairs.
Urquhart was one of the first allied personnel to enter the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in April 1945. His experience there partly spurred him on to be involved in peacemaking at the United Nations.[1]
United Nations
Urquhart was a member of the British diplomatic staff involved in the setting-up of the United Nations in 1945, assisting the Executive Committee of the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations in establishing the administrative framework of the organisation that had been created by the UN Charter. He subsequently became an aide to Trygve Lie, the first Secretary-General of the United Nations. Urquhart helped handle the administrative and logistical challenges involved in getting the UN established in New York City. Not particularly well liked by Lie, Urquhart was subsequently moved to a minor UN administrative post. When Dag Hammarskjöld became the second Secretary-General in 1953, however, he appointed Urquhart as one of his main advisors. He loyally served by Hammarskjöld's side until the latter's death in 1961, admiring him greatly in spite of admittedly never getting to know him very well on a personal level.
During the Suez Crisis of 1956 Urquhart played a critical role in creating what turned out to be the first major UN effort towards conflict resolution and peacekeeping. As Hammarskjöld's only major adviser with military experience Urquhart took the lead in organising the first UN peacekeeping force, which was designed to separate the Egyptian and Israeli forces then fighting each other in the Sinai Peninsula. To differentiate the peacekeepers from other soldiers, the UN wanted the soldiers to wear blue berets. When it turned out that those would take six weeks to make, Urquhart proposed the characteristic blue helmets, which could be converted in a day by painting over normal ones.
In the early 1960s Urquhart served as the main UN representative in the Congo, succeeding his friend Ralph Bunche. His efforts to stabilise the war-torn country were hampered by the chaos created by innumerable warring factions. At one point Urquhart was abducted, brutally beaten and threatened with death by undisciplined Katangese troops. He survived only by persuading his captors that his death would bring retribution by UN Gurkha troops, whom the Katangans greatly feared.
He served as the UN Under-Secretary-General for Special Political Affairs from 1972 until his retirement in 1986. As Under-Secretary-General, Urquhart's main functions were the direction of peacekeeping forces in the Middle East and Cyprus, and negotiations in these two areas; amongst others, his contributions also included work on the negotiations relating to a Namibia peace settlement, negotiations in Kashmir, Lebanon and work on peaceful uses for nuclear energy.
Related Document
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document:More mysteries about the suspicious death of UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld | Article | May 2024 | Christopher Nicholson | "The plot was successful as a report by agent 'Congo Red' details. ‘Report. Operation Celeste… 1. Device failed on take-off. 2. Despatched Eagle (illegible word) to follow and take (illegible words) 3. Device activated (illegible words) prior to landing. 4… 5. Mission accomplished: satisfactory." |
References
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