UN wants new troops for DRC
2013-01-10 12:45
-
Ban KI-Moon
As a child in South Korea, Ban Ki-moon wrote a letter to the UN secretary-general regarding the...
Now R662.00
buy now
New York - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is seeking
additional resources to strengthen the UN peacekeeping force in the Democratic
Republic of Congo with "intervention" troops, night-vision equipment,
surveillance drones with cameras, and enhanced river patrols.
The UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky told reporters on Wednesday
that Ban sent a letter to the Security Council on 27 December outlining the
proposals which are aimed at improving the protection of civilians from the
threat of armed groups in DRC’s vast mineral-rich eastern region which has been
engulfed in fighting since the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
The UN diplomats said Ban is expected to send a report to
the council later this month with specific recommendations for additional
troops - possibly as many as 2 000 - that would actively intervene, for
example, to prevent another takeover of the key eastern city of Goma.
The Security Council wants to beef up the UN peacekeeping
force known as Monusco, which has more than 17 700 UN peacekeepers and over 1 400
international police, following last year's takeover of many villages and towns
in eastern Congo by M23 rebels who briefly held Goma before withdrawing in
early December.
The force — the largest of the UN's 15 far-flung
peacekeeping operations — did little to protect the tens of thousands of
civilians, many of whom fled their homes.
On Tuesday, the 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 the M23, especially on the possible
deployment of unarmed drones. Diplomats said Russia was among the other
countries raising concerns about the use of 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.
New technology
"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?"
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.
Diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because the
consultations were closed, said France, Britain, the US and other Western
countries back the deployment of drones and other advanced equipment in eastern
DRC, saying it would enhance the ability of peacekeepers to track armed groups
and help protect UN forces from ambushes.
The 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.
US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said on Wednesday
the US does supports the UN's unarmed drones in the DRC to help the UN
peacekeeping effort.
"The DRC government has also welcomed the UN's request,"
she said, using the country's initials.
Ban said in a key part of the letter, obtained by The
Associated Press, that Monusco needs more information, analysis and
dissemination to enhance the awareness of peacekeepers "and to enable
timely decision-making".
"This includes external imagery/electronic equipment
and associated analysis capabilities, notably surveillance capability like that
provided by unnamed aerial systems," the secretary-general said.
He said an additional river unit and shore-based radar
equipment are also required "to provide enhanced coverage on lakes and
rivers in the Kivus."
- AP
