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UN Peacekeepers Can't Contrain Congo Army Abuses,
NGO Says, Split on Speaking with Nkunda
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
November 11 -- In the Congo, UN
Peacekeepers despite a mandate to protect civilians are not authorized
to
engage with the Congolese Army, even if these troops described as
rampaging
kill civilians right in front of the UN, Oxfam's Juliette Prodham
Tuesday told
the Press by phone from Goma.
Oxfam
along with fellow non-governmental
organizations Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group are
together calling for an additional 3000 UN Peacekeepers for North Kivu.
But on
some issues they are taking different views, for example on whether
President Joseph
Kabila should speak with rebel general Laurent Nkunda. Steve Crewshaw
of Human
Rights Watch said this should probably take place, while Fabienne Hara
says ICG
believes that since Nkunda was part of the so-called Nairobi and Goma
Processes, he should not be given a new and separate chance to
negotiate.
Whether ignoring the people with the guns is the best way to protect
civilians
is another question.
Inner City
Press asked HRW's Crenshaw to relate his groups damning reports about
peacekeepers in the Congo being involved in trading gold and guns, and
sexual
abuse of minors, to his call for 3000 more peacekeepers. Crewshaw went
to great
pains to say that the critique, in the gold and guns case, was of the
UN's
Office of Internal Oversight Services, headed by Inga-Britt Ahlenius.
But when
one calls for more and more peacekeepers, to support a national army
accused of
human rights abuses, shouldn't some warning bells be rung?
Peacekeepers in Congo, gold and guns not shown
The groups' main call seemed to be that European countries should be
faster with with
support. This must primarily be directed at the UK, because HRW's
Crewshaw went
on to praise Belgium, at least for its votes in the Security Council,
and ICG's
Hara agreed that France is not the right country to led a peacekeeping
mission
in North Kivu, given its rising tensions with Rwanda. Who does that
leave --
Spain? Whose general Diaz fled the Congo less than a month after
arriving?
Click here for Inner City
Press Nov. 7 debate on the war in Congo
Watch this site, and this Oct. 2 debate, on
UN, bailout, MDGs
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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