UNMISS Force Commander thanks Vietnam for deploying elite personnel to U.N. peacekeeping missions

Lt. Gen. Mohan Subramanian previously worked in Vietnam and had the opportunity to celebrate the Lunar New Year there on several occasions.

Lt. Gen. Mohan Subramanian, UNMISS Force Commander

Lt. Gen. Mohan Subramanian, India’s Defense Attaché to Vietnam from 2008 to 2012, fondly recalls celebrating Tet four times. “I joined many Vietnamese in singing, ‘Tet, Tet, Tet, Tet has come’,” he reminisced. The UNMISS Force Commander views Tet as a beautiful tradition for family reunions and honoring one’s roots.

Having celebrated the holiday across various cities, he noted local nuances in festivities. “As a soldier, Tet also reminds me of the 1968 Tet Mau Than Offensive and Uprising, a courageous and successful campaign during the resistance war against U.S. imperialists,” he said.

Meeting General Vo Nguyen Giap three times remains a career highlight for Subramanian, who admires Vietnam’s “glorious and unparalleled military history.” He praised Vietnam’s 20th-century successes against fascism and colonialism, and its role in toppling the genocidal regime in Cambodia.

Subramanian noted that while peacekeeping is a natural fit for such a military, Vietnam only recently joined U.N. operations. He lauded the effectiveness of individual officers and units like the engineering company and Level-2 Field Hospital (L2FH). “Vietnam’s L2FH Rotation 7 is a valuable component of UNMISS,” he stressed, saying thanks to the Government and Ministry of National Defense of Vietnam for deploying elite personnel to South Sudan. 

By Hoang Vu (from Bentiu, South Sudan)

Translated by Tran Hoai