New U.N. Brigade’s Aggressive Stance in Africa Brings Success, and Risks
KIWANJA, Democratic Republic of Congo — When Martin Kobler, the newly appointed United Nations representative, arrived this summer for his first visit to this small but strategic town, armed members of the M23 rebel group lined the airstrip, silently watching him land and disembark. Their presence sent an unmistakable message: the rebels, not Congolese officials, controlled Kiwanja. But when he landed at the end of October, he was greeted instead by crowds of cheering civilians. The armed fighters who had terrorized them were nowhere in sight. Congolese forces, supported by United Nations peacekeepers, had routed the rebels and restored control of the town to the central government.
“Our task is to dissolve political blockage, to end occupation by armed forces, to restore state authority, to bring back hope to the people,” said Mr. Kobler, a German career diplomat and special representative of the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon. “You have to find new instruments to restore the peace.” The new instrument in question was the Force Intervention Brigade, made up of 3,000 soldiers from South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi. Rather than waiting for attacks, the United Nations Security Council authorized the troops to “neutralize armed groups.” It was a major departure from the often passive approach that has given peacekeepers a bad reputation, from failing to prevent the slaughter of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica to not intervening to stop the massacres of Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda.
Those instructions, delivered with rare agreement among members of the Council, were certainly a gamble. They aimed not only to restore hope to the long-suffering people of Congo, but also to rehabilitate the image of the United Nations peacekeepers, under whose watch a massacre took place in this very town in 2008. For the moment, the gamble appears to have paid off, even as it raises new risks. The pitfalls of backing one side in such a conflict were on full display this week after the Congolese government walked out on peace talks with the rebels.
“Despite a change in the military situation, it is important that there be a political conclusion to the dialogue,” said a group of envoys representing the international community in a statement on Monday, including Mr. Kobler and his counterparts from the United States, African Union and European Union. Still, the intervention brigade, combined with forceful diplomatic pressure and financial incentives for neighboring Rwanda, has made a dent in a seemingly endless war. “I think it has contributed to rebuilding the credibility of the U.N., which was almost nonexistent in the Congo after years of humiliation,” said Jean-Marie Guéhenno, who was the United Nations peacekeeping chief from 2000 to 2008, and under whose watch its blue helmets were overwhelmed by rebel forces in eastern Congo.
Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/13/world/africa/new-un-brigades-aggressive-stance-in-africa-brings-success-and-risks.html
