Lieutenant Colonel Vu Van Hiep (Army, Vietnam) attended the inaugural Legal Aspects of Peacekeeping Operations (LAPKO) resident course in 2017 and has already begun applying what he learned at DIILS as a UN military observer in South Sudan.  LTC Vu stated:  "I learned a lot from the LAPKO course that has helped during my mission..particularly about Status of Force Agreements and the impact of common incidents caused by armed groups against SOFA, especially on freedom of movement provisions."  In his role as a UN military observer to UNMISS, LTC Vu executes long and short duration patrols to the Areas of Responsibility (AOR).  During these military or integrated patrols, he negotiates with armed groups at checkpoints where SOFA violations sometimes occur.
Lieutenant Colonel Vu Van Hiep is currently serving as a UN military observer with the UN peacekeeping mission (UNMISS) in South Sudan.  He attended the DIILS LAPKO resident course in Newport, Rhode Island in 2017. This course covers UN authorities and standards, international human rights protections, international agreements, and more.  We congratulate him on his selection as a UN military observer and for successfully applying the knowledge he learned during the LAPKO course to this new assignment.