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UN Has Failed in Congo Mission, Says Report

The East African (Nairobi)
NEWS
December 13, 2004
Posted to the web December 14, 2004

By Paul Redfern, Special Correspondent
Nairobi
A REPORT released last week by the International Rescue Committee shows that
31,000 people a month are dying in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 18 months
after a peace deal was signed.
The report has led to renewed debate about why the international community has
so lamentably failed to act.
The report, which conducted its survey together with the Australian-based
Burnet Institute, is said to be one of the most comprehensive ever conducted in
a conflict zone. Its detailed estimates mean that the Congo crisis, which has
now been going on for more than six years, is the world's most deadly conflict
since World War II.
It compares it with the estimates of more than two million people who died in
America's war in Vietnam between 1961 and 1973. But with the crisis threatening
to intensify in the coming weeks following Rwanda's threat to continue cross-
border attacks against Interhamwe rebels and Kinshasa's response that it would
respond in kind, new questions are being asked about the role of United Nations
troops in particular.
The London-based The Economist magazine highlighted the issue last week, when
it asked whether the 16,000 Congo Mission (Monuc) troops were "the world's
least effective peacekeeping force."
The Economist noted that Monuc troops had persistently failed to disarm or
neutralise the rebels operating in eastern Congo and in May, "they sat back as
rebels seized control of Bukavu, Congo's fourth largest city, despite the
presence of a large and well-armed Monuc garrison on the outskirts of the town.
"The blue helmets could easily have scattered the rebels, but the only shots
they fired in anger that week were at civilians demonstrating against their
inaction. Three of the protesters died."
Monuc's chiefs have argued that they do not have enough troops to carry out
their mandate properly and need at least 50,000 troops.
But Monuc's lack of action at present means that the force does not act as a
deterrent and cannot or will not stop incursions by Rwandan troops across the
borders.
"It would be hard to exaggerate the UN's unpopularity," The Economist says.
"Monuc's reputation has been damaged still further by revelations that some of
its peacekeepers have been sexually molesting Congolese children... [The result
is] morale among the blue helmets is not high. Many regard their posting to
Congo to be the height of misfortune. Some are ashamed to be part of such an
indolent force."
Critics say, however, that Monuc's failings are the failings of the
international community to take seriously the scale of the conflict in Congo.
They point to the fact that Congo received only $3.23 per person in foreign aid
this year, compared with $89 per person in Sudan's Darfur region and $178 in
Iraq.
The IRC report says that 98 per cent of recent deaths attributable to the
conflict were the result of preventable diseases and malnutrition. Mortality
rates in Congo are 80 per cent higher than for the rest of sub Saharan Africa
and nearly half of all deaths are children under five.

   

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