Romeo and Juliet, Act III, Scene V. Capulet’s orchard.

Enter Romeo and Juliet above, at the window.

Juliet: Willst du schon gehn? Der Tag ist ja noch fern: es war die Nachtigall und nicht die Lerche, die eben jetzt dein banges Ohr durchdrang; sie singt des Nachts auf dem Granatbaum dort.  Glaub, Lieber, mi, es war die Nachtigall.

Romeo: It was the lark, the herald of the morn, no nightingale: look, love, what envious streaks do lace the severing clouds in yonder east: night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops. I must be gone and live, or stay and die.

In Romeo and Juliet, no matter what language it’s in, at least the characters know what to say next – it’s in the script. However, it’s a scene that gets somewhat lost when it’s in two different languages.

In conflict zones in Africa, however, the answer isn’t in a book, and the response to a question in a language you don’t understand isn’t scripted, which is why, for the peacekeeping troops stationed in these conflict zones, the ability to speak the same language is a necessity.

It is for this reason that the British Council offices in Angola, Ethiopia and Mozambique have embarked on the Peacekeeping English Project (PEP).

The aim of the project is to teach soldiers in Africa to communicate effectively in English. For these soldiers, who are involved in UN peacekeeping initiatives throughout Africa, this is particularly helpful in order to communicate effectively with soldiers from other countries.

‘Our job is to make sure our students make a contribution to the countries they are stationed in,’ says PEP project manager for Ethiopia, David Pardoe. ‘We have started up the classes in a number of places across the country, and once these soldiers have been trained, Ethiopia acts as a contributor country to UN peacekeeping initiatives around Africa. As it is Ethiopia has 1 600 troops in Darfur and quite a few troops in Liberia.’

As Mr Pardoe points out, these soldiers have had a massive impact in the countries where they are stationed.

‘If there were no UN peacekeepers in Liberia, for example, then there is a very strong likelihood that hostilities would break out again, and the country would be in a state of perpetual war,' David Pardoe suggests. ‘This would obviously have a huge impact on civil society, as well as on peace and security in the whole region, which would almost certainly ensure that Liberia would lose the significant democratic gains they have made since the end of the civil war.

‘These peacekeeping troops contribute in many ways to the peace-building processes in that country, ensuring that small arms are collected and destroyed, protecting the democratic election process and protecting NGOs and humanitarian aid workers so that they can carry out their essential work.’

On top of their active role in the countries that they are stationed in, the peacekeeping troops also have an important role to play as a monitoring force.

‘When warring sides know that they are being watched and observed by the UN's multinational forces,’ David continues, ‘who are sanctioned and are there with the full authority of the UN security council behind them, I think that is a considerable deterrent to warring factions.’

The importance of being able to communicate in English is massive.

‘The majority of the UN’s peacekeepers are from English-speaking countries (Ghana, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Kenya, Nigeria etc),’ Mr Pardoe points out, ‘for those armies who are not from English-speaking countries, the importance of English is huge. They simply have no choice other than to learn English. While English and French are in fact the official languages of UN missions, it is overwhelmingly English that is most often used.

‘UN soldiers need English skills to be able to work with other soldiers on the mission, but also for communicating with NGOs and humanitarian missions, civilian populations, journalists and international media. Ethiopian UN military observers were recently sent home by the UN from Liberia just because their English was not good enough, which demonstrates how important the UN considers English skills to be.’

Ethiopia is the second largest contributor of soldiers to these initiatives in Africa after Ghana, highlighting just how important the PEP project in Ethiopia really is.

The British Council manages the PEP programme on behalf of the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Ministry of Defence, and the Department for International Development. The aim of PEP is to reduce, resolve and prevent conflict worldwide through improved English-language communication.

PEP also provides free online language development for military personnel, border guards and police through the British Council’s LearnEnglish Peacekeepers’ website.

PEP operates in more than 30 countries across the globe.

Alongside PEP, the British Council has a number of different language courses to offer throughout Africa. Among the different courses, the British Council offers opportunities to learn English both locally and in the UK, teach English as well as providing English language exams and courses. The British Council Africa site also covers news from around Africa as well as events happening in Africa.