Singapore to lead anti-piracy flotilla off Somalia

Singapore will lead an international flotilla of ships to watch over the pirate-infested waters off Somalia.

Rear-Admiral Bernard Miranda and 28 other Singapore navy, air force and army servicemen will lead the Combined Task Force 151 in the Gulf of Aden and its surrounding waters until March, commanding six vessels from various countries.

They will coordinate counter-piracy operations with naval forces from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

Six other navy personnel from Australia, France, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia and South Korea make up the rest of the 35-man command team.

This is the first time a Singaporean is leading a multinational peace support mission since 2002, when a Singaporean army general headed a United Nations peace support mission in Timor Leste.

The Straits Times (Jan 21 2010)

Singapore honoured for being peaceful nation

At a dinner kicking off the 3-day Global Symposium of Peaceful Nations in Washington on 1 November 2009, Singapore was one of the 18 countries lauded for being a "model for development and urbanisation" that has demonstrated its dedication to peace in a variety of ways.

The list includes Singapore's provision of humanitarian aid overseas, military and police forces to United Nations peacekeeping missions, laws to protect its multi-ethnic society as well as efforts to preserve the environment, such as building an eco-city with Tianjin city in China, according to a citation read out at the dinner.

The event was organised by the J. William and Harriet Fulbright Centre and Alliance for Peacebuilding.

The 18 nations were chosen based on their performance in the 2009 Global Peace Index, which ranks 144 countries by their peacefulness and absence of violence. Using the index, the symposium's organisers looked at nine different regions of the world, and identified two of the most peaceful nations from each of these regions.

Singapore was ranked the world's 23rd most peaceful nation. It moved up from 29th place in 2008's rankings. The index is produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace, a global think-tank.