NZ's
McLay Tells
Press of
Proposal For
Monitoring
Force
Intervention
Brigade
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
19 -- New
Zealand, new
on the UN
Security
Council this
year, is
calling for
increased
monitoring of
UN
Peacekeeping
military
operations by
the Force
Intervention
Brigade in the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo,
Ambassador Jim
McLay told the
Press on March
19.
After a Security
Council
meeting
about the UN's
mission in the
DRC, McLay
told the Press
that there's a
need for more
frequent and
detailed
monitoring of
the Force
Intervention
Brigade, which
was created
with troops
from South
Africa,
Tanzania and
Malawi in
order to
“neutralize”
armed groups
in the Eastern
Congo.
The FIB, as it
is known, used
attack
helicopters
and ended the
largely Tutsi
M23 rebellion.
Now with some
controversy
the FIB is not being similarly deployed
against the
largely Hutu
FDLR militia.
Inner City
Press asked
McLay about
this, and the
perception
that the
Troops
Contributing
Countries to
the FIB have a
role in which
groups it will
target. McLay
said that New
Zealand's
focus is
"specifically
on the
monitoring
issue, not so
much who they
engage with
but what happens
when they
engage."
Inner City
Press asked if
each
contingent
would monitor
itself. McLay
said “the most
effective
mechanism is
probably a
relative
informal one,”
that ensures
the
information
comes to the
Council more
frequently
than the
standard 90
days.
“We owe it to
the
civilians,”
McLay said,
and also to
the troops
themselves.
Asked if the
monitoring
reports would
be public
McLay said
yes, it all
becomes public
in reports.
This is not
always the
case, however.
For example in
December UN
Peacekeepers
in Haiti were
filmed
shooting at
demonstrators.
That UN report
has still not
been released.
Still,
increased
oversight by
the Security
Council member
states over
the missions
they create is
needed. As
another
example, a UN
Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services
“strictly
confidential”
report leaked
to Inner City
Press shows
that UN Police
positions in
the missions
in the DRC and
Haiti were
sold for money
by the Deputy
Permanent
Representative
of Cote
d'Ivoire. Click
here for
report.
That
individual
remains in his
position, in
and out of the
UN building;
the Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations
(and the host
country) have
done nothing
about that.
Perhaps if
other Security
Council
members, for
example New
Zealand, did
more
monitoring and
oversight,
things could
improve. Watch
this site.
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