UN wants troops and technology for Congo
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wants more soldiers and sophisticated equipment to strengthen the peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters on Wednesday that Ban sent a letter to the Security Council on December 27 outlining proposals aimed at improving the protection of civilians from armed groups in the vast mineral-rich eastern region. The area has been engulfed in fighting since the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
It is surprising that he has to ask the Security Council for anything operational. Troops are a different matter.
UN diplomats said Ban was expected to send a report to the council later this month with specific recommendations for additional troops - up to 2000 - that could actively intervene, for example, to prevent another takeover of the key eastern city of Goma.
I would have thought that the extra AU troops that are due to arrive would have been sufficient in addition to the UN troops already on the ground. This may well refer to those troops but they already have security council approval.
He also wants night-vision equipment, surveillance drones with cameras, and enhanced river patrols.
As I said this is operational and the Security Council has no business dealing with issues at a micro level like this. The security council should approve manpower and budgets if they are micro managing to this level then it is little wonder that MONUSCO is failing to achieve its mission.
On Tuesday, UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous briefed the Security Council on the proposed measures but ran into opposition from neighbouring Rwanda, which is believed to be backing M23 rebels.
Rwanda has no place in these deliberations as a Security Council member. They may hold the African seat on the council but on issues relating to trhe Congo they should excuse themselves from deliberations declaring a conflict of interest.
Rwanda was especially against the possible deployment of unarmed drones. Rwanda's UN Ambassador, Eugene-Richard Gasana, said after that meeting that his government and others have legitimate concerns about the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, especially before an assessment from the UN Secretariat later this year on the legal, technical and financial implications of using UAVs.
What The Fuck ? This is just beyond belief, the UAV's or drones are flying over sovereign DR Congo territory they are unarmed. They can't kill Rwandan troops that may be illegally deployed in the DR Congo. They can tell the world that they are there though. Rwanda it would seem takes the line that the world are gullible fools.
But here's the rub lets ignore all the evidence and assume that Rwanda is behaving in an honourable manner. They are then paranoid fools. Some paranoid fools we have to take seriously, Rwandan President Paul Kilgame does not fall into that category.
"It might have a precedence on other countries," Gasana said. "We owe them a kind of explanation. It is about human beings, it is not about 'Star Wars.' We need this new technology, but at which cost?"
Pathetic, in fact, worse than pathetic.
The Rwandan government denies any support for the M23, which is made up of hundreds of soldiers who deserted the Congolese army in April, mainly from the Tutsi ethnic group that was targeted for extermination by Hutu militias during the Rwanda genocide. Since withdrawing from Goma, M23 has taken steps toward negotiating with the Congolese government.
That is a generous interpretation of both M23 and the Government of the DR Congo's actions to date.
UN officials say drones could also be useful in other African conflicts and possibly in the search in Central Africa for leaders and members of the Lord's Resistance Army, a brutal gang of jungle militiamen headed by warlord Joseph Kony who is accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court.
I had no idea that this was the "precedence " Rwanda was on about, it however makes a lot of sense, brutal gangs of thugs obviously have standards of professional courtesy.
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