French Troops Fighting in Congo, U.N. Issues Warning to Rwanda
Paul Harris | 16.06.2003 07:51
TORONTO (NFTF.org) -- Having made the decision in the United Nations Security Council that troops intervening in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (Background Report) will not attempt to disarm local militias, French troops are paying the price. They have already come under fire within a few days of their arrival. The encounter on June 14 was short-lived and no casualties are reported on either side, but all locals expect this is just the first taste of what the international peacekeeping contingent being led by the French can expect over the next three months. The mandate only extends to protecting the peace within the narrow confines of the town of Bunia and is scheduled to end in September 2003. Most observers are predicting periodic skirmishes over the next few months followed by an open season on the enemy as soon as the U.N. troops withdraw.
At the same time that the U.N. is sponsoring this peace initiative, which is increasingly being criticized as weak-willed and doomed from the outset, it is rattling its sword against one of DRC's neighbors, Rwanda. One of the rebel groups in DRC that is continuing to cause turmoil apparently has the backing of the Rwandan government and the U.N. has told Rwanda that the world is monitoring their actions. The Rwandans, of course, are no strangers to such scrutiny by the U.N.; in 1994 they were repeatedly told they were being watched while they deliberately murdered 800,000 of their citizens in an inter-racial genocide; nothing was done to stop them and they are unlikely to expect anything different now.
For their part, the Rwandans claim they withdrew their troops from DRC last autumn but the DRC government insists they are still there and illegally exploiting mineral resources in the rich Ituri province whose largest town is Bunia, present home to the U.N.'s peacekeepers.
To back up its demands for good behavior, the U.N. is relying solely on rhetoric; Rwanda has not been threatened with any sort of sanctions or reprisals should the accusations of DRC turn out to be valid.
YellowTimes.org correspondent Paul Harris drafted this report.
At the same time that the U.N. is sponsoring this peace initiative, which is increasingly being criticized as weak-willed and doomed from the outset, it is rattling its sword against one of DRC's neighbors, Rwanda. One of the rebel groups in DRC that is continuing to cause turmoil apparently has the backing of the Rwandan government and the U.N. has told Rwanda that the world is monitoring their actions. The Rwandans, of course, are no strangers to such scrutiny by the U.N.; in 1994 they were repeatedly told they were being watched while they deliberately murdered 800,000 of their citizens in an inter-racial genocide; nothing was done to stop them and they are unlikely to expect anything different now.
For their part, the Rwandans claim they withdrew their troops from DRC last autumn but the DRC government insists they are still there and illegally exploiting mineral resources in the rich Ituri province whose largest town is Bunia, present home to the U.N.'s peacekeepers.
To back up its demands for good behavior, the U.N. is relying solely on rhetoric; Rwanda has not been threatened with any sort of sanctions or reprisals should the accusations of DRC turn out to be valid.
YellowTimes.org correspondent Paul Harris drafted this report.
Paul Harris
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