No confidence in monusco, says Ugandan foreign minister
Henry Okello Oryem.
Regional countries no longer have trust in the UN Stabilisation mission in Congo, (MONUSCO), because, over the years, the latter has failed to pacify the eastern DRC.
This was said by Henry Okello Oryem, the Ugandan State Minister for Foreign Affairs (International Affairs), while briefing Kampala-based diplomats on the outcomes of the just concluded Heads of State Summit of the International Conference for the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) in Kampala.
“ICGLR has lost faith in MONUSCO. If it was doing its job with its large numbers and budget, - I don’t think we would still have the crisis in the DRC today,” Oryem said.
The problem of course is no one has any faith in the ICGLR
Uganda is currently holding the rotational chair of the ICGLR, which brings together 11 regional countries, and has been requested to seek diplomatic and technical support from the UN on various ICGLR initiatives.
So not only a vote of no confidence but a vote of confidence by the ICGLR.
The minister was responding to a question from a European Union (EU) diplomat who wanted to know how the envisaged neutral international force would work along the UN force.
The neutral force was mooted by the regional Heads of State because the UN mission, which consumes a whopping $1.2 billion a year, has failed to bring peace to the area, ten years after it was deployed.
Oryem explained that member states came up with the idea of a neutral force after realising that the conflict was escalating and it risked engulfing many other countries.
Wouldn't it be better if the member states had agreed to stop invading, killing, raping and supporting rogue Congolese factions that also commit these atrocities ?
Tanzania has already offered to contribute troops to the neutral force which now awaits financial and logistical support from African states, regional and international partners.
Now if Malawi and Tanzania both committed troops maybe they could avoid going to war with each other over there own mineral arguments however the precedent would be for them to work together and steal the mineral wealth of the DR Congo.
“We are all looking for the fundamental cause of what led to that crisis and those root causes can be addressed.”
I want to scream.
ICGLR member states have so far pledged 3 million USD to the ICGLR Humanitarian Trust Fund to help in resettling thousands of refugees that fled the crisis.
3 hundred thousand refugees and climbing in the latest estimates and a paltry $3 million US from 4 nation states. Why did they fucking bother ? Alex calls them Trolls and I agree.
Oryem called on all member states to contribute to the Fund, saying that the influx of refugees was straining the security and social services of the host countries.
I will give Uganda credit for its treatment of refugees but please $3 Million US. A single life is priceless and that is just an insult.
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