Rwanda opposes use of drones in DRC
2013-01-09 10:17
New York - Rwanda on Tuesday opposed the use of surveillance
drones in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as proposed by the United
Nations until there is a full assessment of their use, saying it did not want
Africa to become a laboratory for foreign intelligence devices.
Envoys said the UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told the
Security Council during a closed-door session that the UN mission in the DRC
plans to deploy three unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as drones, in the
country's conflict-torn eastern provinces.
The United Nations has wanted surveillance drones for
eastern DRC since 2008. Alan Doss, the former head of the UN peacekeeping force
there at the time asked the Security Council for helicopters, drones and other
items to improve real-time intelligence gathering.
The request was never met, but the idea generated new
interest last year after M23 rebels began taking over large swathes of eastern DRc.
Rwanda, which has denied allegations by UN experts that it
has been supporting M23, made clear it considered Ladsous' call for deploying
drones premature.
"It is not wise to use a device on which we don't have
enough information," Olivier Nduhungirehe, Rwanda's deputy UN ambassador,
told Reuters. "Africa shall not become a laboratory for intelligence devices
from overseas."
The spokesperson for the French UN mission, Brieuc Pont,
said in a statement on France's Twitter feed: "Monusco needs additional,
modern assets, including drones, to be better informed and more reactive."
Council diplomats said the United States, Britain and other
council members were also supportive of the idea of using drones in eastern DRC.
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is expected to submit a
report to the Security Council in the coming weeks recommending ways of improving
the UN force in DRC, known as Monusco.
Other diplomats
The UN force in DRC suffered a severe blow to its image in
November after it failed to intervene when well-equipped M23 rebels seized
control of the eastern Congolese city of Goma. The rebels withdrew after 11
days.
Congolese troops, aided by the UN peacekeepers, have been
battling M23 - who the UN experts and Congolese officials say are backed by
both Rwanda and Uganda - for nearly a year in the mineral-rich east of the
country.
Diplomats said the Rwandan delegation informed the Security
Council behind closed doors on Tuesday that Monusco would be a
"belligerent" if it deployed drones in eastern DRC now.
Nduhungirehe explained this position, saying it was vital to
know before deploying drones what the implications would be for individual
countries' sovereignty. He said Rwanda had no problem with helicopters,
night-vision equipment or other high-tech gadgetry for the UN peacekeeping
force.
Other diplomats, including some from Europe, have also
expressed reservations. They said there were unanswered questions about who
would receive the information from the drones and how widely it would be
disseminated. They expressed discomfort at the idea of the United Nations
becoming an active gatherer of intelligence.
Russia and China are among the nations on the council that
have concerns about the deployment of drones in eastern DRC, diplomats told
Reuters.
Western diplomats from countries that support the deployment
of drones say Rwanda's opposition is the first manifestation of the
difficulties they expect to face over DRC while Rwanda is on the Security
Council for the next two years.
