As
UN Pushes DRC
Intervention
Brigade, of
Business
Interests
& Rights
Diligence
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 25 –
With the UN
rushing toward
adding an
Intervention
or “peace
enforcement”
Brigade to its
embattled
MONUSCO
peacekeeping
mission in
Eastern Congo,
there are
several
questions
which remain
unaddressed.
Some
Security
Council
members and
troop
contributing
countries have
a
general
concern with
UN missions
being
perceived too
much as taking
sides in a
conflict.
When the M23
rebels drove
on and took
over Goma,
they did not
engage with
MONUSCO. Would
this change?
How separate
would the
intervention
brigade be
kept?
More
specifically,
some wonder
why SADC would
have such a
big role in
the
brigade,
saying
diplomatically
that business
interests
might cloud
the brigade's
judgment or at
least how it's
perceived.
Others
find it
surprising
that a UN
Secretary
General would
applaud the
suspension of
aid to a
country like
Rwanda, which
Ban Ki-moon
does
not even
directly name
in his
reports.
At
the February
25 noon
briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky, by
phone from the
UAE, why Ban
did not meet
with
Rwandan
president Paul
Kagame while
he was in
Addis Ababa.
Nesirky
said it was a
matter of
timing.
Inner
City Press has
been asking
about the UN's
stated Human
Rights Due
Diligence
Policy of not
supporting or
working with
army units
engaged
in abuses.
Already, the
UN Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations
under Herve Ladsous
does not
appear to be
implementing
the Policy
with respect
to the
November 20-22
Congolese Army
rapes in
Minova.
Since
the
Intervention
Brigade will
be part of
MONUSCO, how
will the Human
Rights Due
Diligence
Policy apply
to it? Watch
this site.
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