Tuesday, September 04, 2007
In the Sudanese province of Darfur, about 200,000 people have been killed, 2.5 million driven from their homes and the conflict has spread to two other countries under the very eyes of the African Union, now extended to AU-UN, peacekeeping force.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, eastern rebels, militias and government troops continue to kill, plunder, rape and clash, despite the presence of a 17,000-strong UN peacekeeping force, the largest in the world.
In addition, MONUC has failed to take action against the so-called negative forces in the eastern region, such as the Interahamwe and the LRA, which continue to destabilise both Rwanda and Uganda.
Partly as a result of this, new fighting has flared up in North-Kivu between Congolese government troops and soldiers loyal to renegade Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda.
Earlier, UN peacekeeping missions failed to stem the anarchy and clan violence in Somalia, and stop the genocide in Rwanda, even recalling its troops in the midst of the mass slaughter.
These peacekeeping missions are extremely costly. UNAMID, the planned UN-AU Mission in Darfur, will cost over $2b a year. MONUC has a budget of over $1b a year - funds that could otherwise have been used for development.
But they are also marred with allegations of corruption, procurement irregularities, theft, sex abuse and the trafficking of precious metals.
Indeed, poorly trained and equipped soldiers from developing countries, who have no stake in the countries they serve in, might not always be the best motivated and the most effective.
The UN needs to re-examine its peace-keeping missions. It needs to assess their cost-effectiveness.
It may consider establishing and training a more permanent international force, under one command, or demand minimum requirements of the troops that are being deployed.
As they are, peacekeeping missions too often appear to be merely a gravy train for cash-strapped deploying countries.
Source: New Vision, Sept 04, 2007