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Peacekeeper: The Road to Sarajevo
Book by MacKenzie, Lewis, MacKenzie, Major General Louis
334 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 18, 2022
It is an excellent story about the first days of the war in Sarajevo in 1992, described from the first person by gen. MacKenzie. For me, it was extremely interesting because I lived in Bosnia in that period, and I know all places and many stories about the war, but this book gives me a new perspective. Also, the author explained all terrible organizations and inefficiency of UN bureaucracy. I did not give 5 stars because the first part of the book, some parts are pretty boring.
September 17, 2014
Peacekeeper: The Road To Sarajevo. How To Hopefully Help Save The World
They always say war is hell.
And so is peacekeeping.
And so is negotiating.
And so is dealing with geopolitical dysfunction on the macro and micro stage.
All these issues/problems/insanities are fodder for retired Major-General Lewis MacKenzie’s partial biography and partial treatise Peacekeeper: The Road To Sarajevo. A story that still has relevance today. Unfortunately.
MacKenzie came to prominence in the media with his role in the Balkan War in the early 1990’s, and this time of his life is the main chunk of the book, but the General starts at the beginning for him.
Not many details are given of MacKenzie’s upbringing or family or marriage or daughter, which is really not the focus of this book. With an almost laser like focus, he gives concise details of his joining the Canadian military, his training, and progression up the ranks.
And with MacKenzie’s rise, he also chronicles all of his United Nations Peacekeeping missions. The creation of late former Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, the UN Peacekeepers are somewhat like a army for the world, but to help trouble spots remain calm and maybe help heal the rifts.
The General tells of missions for the UN in the 1960’s and 1970’s and 1980’s that each take place in different places across the globe, and each come with different challenges. The island of Cyprus, which he goes to twice in his career, is showcased with its political and racial problems, and how the Peacekeepers have to deal with all sides. Some moments are tense and at least once they prevent a big bloody battle.
MacKenzie keeps plugging away with the tales, quite often painting a portrait of military life in Canada and abroad full of fun and foibles, while still making sure we know of the importance of what they do. Sometimes drips of danger are inserted into humorist stories, all because that is simply the way that happened.
But very soon we reach the main meat and pinnacle of MacKenzie’s career. The former Yugoslavia. He is put in charge of one of the sectors of the country that was falling apart politically and being ripped apart by racial tensions stirred up by government leaders. And, no matter how many times, and how plainly MacKenzie describes it, understanding the clustersmush of what happened to Yugoslavia and who was responsible for what and the massive atrocities committed, is very very difficult. Despite their protests, it is obvious all sides have guilty hands, something MacKenzie makes clear. Now back to the UN, who against the Peacekeepers wishes put the soldiers headquarters in the city of Sarajevo. Right before the city explodes with violence and shelling and snipers.
MacKenzie and his soldiers and civilian support staff are plopped into this mess. They have a lack of pay, supplies, support at the UN, proper facilities, and completely no faith in the local political leaders. As the undeclared civil war rages on, terrible things occur all over, and MacKenzie desperately tries to broker major and minor deals, all to try and stem the carnage and save lives.
At one point the General realizes that getting the Sarajevo airport reopened for humanitarian supplies would be extremely helpful. And at that point MacKenzie also realizes the massively huge problems even this simple action will cause.
Different sides constantly attack the other, and use the Peacekeepers quite often as human shields. Every ceasefire brokered by MacKenzie, hoping to use the time to get the airport up and running, falls apart at superspeed. And every side blames the other. Media games and staged injuries keep popping up with rapid regularity, driving MacKenzie to distraction. Eventually he has to lay down the law to these so called leaders, who either claim they have no idea what his is talking about, or almost admit they have little control of some of their soldiers in the field. One government official is shown to be a sniveling lying coward, and the sneaking suspicion he is behind the smears on MacKenzie is never confirmed.
When the airport, against all luck and logic finally reopens, it also signals the start of the end of MacKenzie’s time in what’s left of Yugoslavia. And when comments MacKenzie made to the press about the war hit the UN, his time was up. The “scandalous” comment? This:
“Because I can’t keep the two side from firing on their own positions for the benefit of CNN. If I could get them to stop, perhaps we could have a real ceasefire.”
MacKenzie manages to delay his departure to his own timing, than comes back to Canada greeted as a hero.
The General talks very openly all throughout Peacekeeper of the bureaucracy and what seems like strange political decisions that the UN indulges in. His last chapter gives a very frank and brutal assessment of the problems facing Peacekeeping in general, including the lack of planning and central organization of the this arm of the UN.
Since the book has come out, waaaay back in 1993, and yes I have had it this long, MacKenzie has since tried to enter federal politics but did not get elected. These days he is enjoying his retirement, racing cars like he has for decades, and doing media interviews.
MacKenzie has been through many things, party for the adrenaline rush, but mostly because he thought he could make a difference. And as Peacekeeper aptly shows, MacKenzie did.
They always say war is hell.
And so is peacekeeping.
And so is negotiating.
And so is dealing with geopolitical dysfunction on the macro and micro stage.
All these issues/problems/insanities are fodder for retired Major-General Lewis MacKenzie’s partial biography and partial treatise Peacekeeper: The Road To Sarajevo. A story that still has relevance today. Unfortunately.
MacKenzie came to prominence in the media with his role in the Balkan War in the early 1990’s, and this time of his life is the main chunk of the book, but the General starts at the beginning for him.
Not many details are given of MacKenzie’s upbringing or family or marriage or daughter, which is really not the focus of this book. With an almost laser like focus, he gives concise details of his joining the Canadian military, his training, and progression up the ranks.
And with MacKenzie’s rise, he also chronicles all of his United Nations Peacekeeping missions. The creation of late former Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, the UN Peacekeepers are somewhat like a army for the world, but to help trouble spots remain calm and maybe help heal the rifts.
The General tells of missions for the UN in the 1960’s and 1970’s and 1980’s that each take place in different places across the globe, and each come with different challenges. The island of Cyprus, which he goes to twice in his career, is showcased with its political and racial problems, and how the Peacekeepers have to deal with all sides. Some moments are tense and at least once they prevent a big bloody battle.
MacKenzie keeps plugging away with the tales, quite often painting a portrait of military life in Canada and abroad full of fun and foibles, while still making sure we know of the importance of what they do. Sometimes drips of danger are inserted into humorist stories, all because that is simply the way that happened.
But very soon we reach the main meat and pinnacle of MacKenzie’s career. The former Yugoslavia. He is put in charge of one of the sectors of the country that was falling apart politically and being ripped apart by racial tensions stirred up by government leaders. And, no matter how many times, and how plainly MacKenzie describes it, understanding the clustersmush of what happened to Yugoslavia and who was responsible for what and the massive atrocities committed, is very very difficult. Despite their protests, it is obvious all sides have guilty hands, something MacKenzie makes clear. Now back to the UN, who against the Peacekeepers wishes put the soldiers headquarters in the city of Sarajevo. Right before the city explodes with violence and shelling and snipers.
MacKenzie and his soldiers and civilian support staff are plopped into this mess. They have a lack of pay, supplies, support at the UN, proper facilities, and completely no faith in the local political leaders. As the undeclared civil war rages on, terrible things occur all over, and MacKenzie desperately tries to broker major and minor deals, all to try and stem the carnage and save lives.
At one point the General realizes that getting the Sarajevo airport reopened for humanitarian supplies would be extremely helpful. And at that point MacKenzie also realizes the massively huge problems even this simple action will cause.
Different sides constantly attack the other, and use the Peacekeepers quite often as human shields. Every ceasefire brokered by MacKenzie, hoping to use the time to get the airport up and running, falls apart at superspeed. And every side blames the other. Media games and staged injuries keep popping up with rapid regularity, driving MacKenzie to distraction. Eventually he has to lay down the law to these so called leaders, who either claim they have no idea what his is talking about, or almost admit they have little control of some of their soldiers in the field. One government official is shown to be a sniveling lying coward, and the sneaking suspicion he is behind the smears on MacKenzie is never confirmed.
When the airport, against all luck and logic finally reopens, it also signals the start of the end of MacKenzie’s time in what’s left of Yugoslavia. And when comments MacKenzie made to the press about the war hit the UN, his time was up. The “scandalous” comment? This:
“Because I can’t keep the two side from firing on their own positions for the benefit of CNN. If I could get them to stop, perhaps we could have a real ceasefire.”
MacKenzie manages to delay his departure to his own timing, than comes back to Canada greeted as a hero.
The General talks very openly all throughout Peacekeeper of the bureaucracy and what seems like strange political decisions that the UN indulges in. His last chapter gives a very frank and brutal assessment of the problems facing Peacekeeping in general, including the lack of planning and central organization of the this arm of the UN.
Since the book has come out, waaaay back in 1993, and yes I have had it this long, MacKenzie has since tried to enter federal politics but did not get elected. These days he is enjoying his retirement, racing cars like he has for decades, and doing media interviews.
MacKenzie has been through many things, party for the adrenaline rush, but mostly because he thought he could make a difference. And as Peacekeeper aptly shows, MacKenzie did.
November 6, 2019
3.0⭐Doesn't hold a candle to Romeo Dallaire's "Shake Hands With The Devil". Still it provides some background on the wars in the former Yugoslavia, the failures and successes of the UN peacekeepers in the region and the politics, internal and external that prolonged the brutal war in Bosnia.
June 17, 2018
I read this shortly after reading General Dallaire's memoir of the Rwandan genocide, Shake Hands with the Devil. MacKenzie has been publicly critical of Dallaire's actions in Rwanda, largely centered on a decision he'd have made differently on the first day of the conflict. To my eyes, General Dallaire's account of soul-searing, hand-wringing impotence in the face of evil seems to have offended the "git 'er done" in General MacKenzie. As you'd expect, MacKenzie's account of his own witnessing of genocide does not evoke the same kind of emotional impact. All the same, I found his treatment of the difficult situation informative. Four stars.
February 29, 2024
A good frank account of the UN mission to Croatia that got stuck in Sarajevo when war broke out in 1992. MacKenzie, the UN commander in Sarajevo, provides an invaluable view of what was happening as he saw it.
The book has a couple of demerits. A little bit more editing would have helped. It was Wellington, not Marlborough, who was in the Peninsular campaign, and Dick Cheney's name is not Chaney (that was Lon, a different guy altogether). MacKenzie also makes a point of praising his subordinates and those with whom he worked, and after a while it sounds formulaic, and there must have been a few whom he regarded as unpleasant SOBs.
Looking back though, 27 years later, this account is still very valuable and worth reading.
The book has a couple of demerits. A little bit more editing would have helped. It was Wellington, not Marlborough, who was in the Peninsular campaign, and Dick Cheney's name is not Chaney (that was Lon, a different guy altogether). MacKenzie also makes a point of praising his subordinates and those with whom he worked, and after a while it sounds formulaic, and there must have been a few whom he regarded as unpleasant SOBs.
Looking back though, 27 years later, this account is still very valuable and worth reading.
May 29, 2012
This is the first soldier biography i had ever read. I loved that Lewis Mackenzie wrote a beautiful first half of the book filled with memories and great stories but then just published his notes and diary from Sarajevo which I found difficult to read. It was sitting on my floor and a family friend who came home from university noticed it and asked me if i felt he had written half a book...I think it is still worth reading if you can find it. I am sure if i read it now, i might find the diary part more interesting.
April 1, 2013
Entertaining memoir of decades of peacekeeping missions by MGen L W MacKenzie. Manages to convey the horror of war, the frustrations of the UN system, and the good peacekeeping can do, despite the challenges.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews