“In February 1957, with the landing of Brazilian troops, UNEF reached its full formation, with 6,073 soldiers”, wrote the Brazilian ambassador in Ramallah, Alessandro Candeas, in a text that accompanied a book of photos about the Battalion and that had been delivered to the Palestinians in 2022.
“The Brazilian military worked to demine the land with the aim of ensuring the safe advance of UN troops from the Sinai Peninsula to the Gaza Strip,” he wrote.
According to the text, the rest of the contingent embarked, also in January 1957, on the ship Custódio de Melo, arriving in Egypt on February 4. In total, the first contingent of the Suez Battalion was made up of 526 soldiers.
Initially, the Brazilian contingent was responsible for guaranteeing the security of the Rafah Camp, a UN logistics unit in the south of the Gaza Strip. He was also responsible for monitoring a section of the armistice line between Israel and Gaza.
The Suez Battalion set up its headquarters, called Campo Brasil, in an old English fort, close to Campo de Rafah.
End of the mission between crossfire
The Suez Battalion began monitoring other sections of the armistice line, having been the country that accumulated the most surveillance areas. But, in May 1967, Egypt withdrew support for the forces to remain in its territory, which resulted in the end of the peacekeeping mission.
Tags: neighborhood born countrys peace mission
