EU peacekeepers soon in the DR of Congo

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
1400 people without adequate arms or rules of engagement (as is common in these peacekeeping missions to places without peace to keep) won't get you very far in filling a vaccum of any sort.

That's why I suggested three airmobile brigades to go on the offensive against the rebels.

[Spiffor]

I think the motivation behind it is slightly more subtle than what Kroptokin said, even though it is the same deep logic (getting a grab on the resources).

The French policy towards Africa has recently changed into less interventionism since the Rwanda debacle. IIRC, the French didn't intervene any significantly in Madagascar during the ruler-change, whereas in the past, we'd have backed our favorite and kill the other as well as his supporters.

Same thing in Ivory Coast. Back in the "good old days", we'd have sent some modern weaponry to massacre the rebels, and equipped the regular army to maintain order after the dirty job had been done. Today, we have put a barrier between the two factions to force them to calm down, and we have forced a compromise upon them (resulting in a loyalist+rebel union government).

This "EU" peacekeeping mission comes from the fact that France doesn't want to be the only one paying for stability in this hole of its usual African influence zone. But France (and its partners) have everything to win with the situation getting back to normal : if the situation stabilizes, the usual French-European industries will exploit the gems again, and the local government will be correctly dependant from France.

However, no matter how ill-motivated this mission is, if it can bring peace in only one city, I'm all for it

[Lord Merciless]

They should hunt down those cannibals first.

[Saint Marcus]

1400 people without adequate arms or rules of engagement

bullcrap

about the EU's force's mandate/equipment/task, from CNN:

"the EU force would be well armed, backed by mechanized units and would operate under robust rules of engagement to allow it to defend itself and civilians. Its main tasks will be to secure Bunia and its airport and protect aid agencies and tens of thousands of refugees around the city."

Sounds very do-able.

[Ecthy]

Maybe we should annex it (and kongo brazzaville too at the same time, to avoid future mixups) and make it a EU protectorate for whites only. Wouldn't solve any problems though

[The Mad Monk]

Just a clue about the kind of hell they're entering:

Pygmies call for UN to prosecute Congo cannibals
22/05/2003 - 09:03:30

Congo Pygmies have demanded the United Nations prosecute government and rebel fighters accused of slaughtering and eating them as fighting continues in the country’s dense north-eastern jungles.

Many army, rebel and tribal fighters believe Pygmies are sub-human and some think that eating them will give the gunmen magic powers. There have even been reports of markets selling Pygmy flesh.

“In living memory, we have seen cruelty, massacres, genocide, but we have never seen human beings hunted and eaten literally as though they were game animals, as has recently happened,” said Sinafasi Makelo, a representative of the Mbuti Pygmies in Congo.

A UN peacekeeping force is to be deployed in Congo’s north-east Ituri province, where at least 280 people have been killed in a week of tribal fighting.

Aid workers in Bunia town have found the bodies of 231 people killed since May 4, including women and children, some decapitated, others with their hearts, livers and lungs removed.

The French have been asked to lead the peacekeeping force and are considering the request. Britain and Pakistan may also send soldiers.

There are about 750 UN troops already in Bunia, but they could not stop the recent violence. There are an estimated 25,000 to 28,000 tribal fighters in the region, with thousands deployed in and around the town.

Pygmies have often suffered at the hands of the warring factions during Congo’s bloody conflicts, and the latest fighting has been no exception.

“Pygmies are being pursued in the forests. People have been eaten,” said Makelo, a delegate to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues which is meeting at UN headquarters in New York.

“This is nothing more, nothing less than a crime against humanity,” he said. “This is a certain kind of genocide.”

Njuma Ekundanayo, an expert member of the Permanent Forum, said attacks against the Pygmies “are not only coming from the army but also from other groups”.

“We don’t understand why the military practices cannibalism against the Pygmies,” she said.

The fighters also rape and sexually assault Pygmy women, and sexually transmitted diseases are spreading in Pygmy communities, the activists said.

About 600,000 Pygmies are believed to live in Congo, which is in the midst of a five-year-old civil war fuelled by deep-seated ethnic and tribal hatreds.

The original inhabitants of Congo, the Pygmies continue to live deep in the forests, eking out an existence by hunting and gathering food from small, nomadic base camps.

Earlier this year, human rights activists and UN investigators confirmed that rebels cooked and ate at least a dozen Pygmies and an undetermined number of people from other tribes during fighting with rival insurgents.

There have been no reports of Congolese army soldiers engaging in similar activity.

Most of the reported acts of cannibalism took place between November and December when the Congolese Liberation Movement launched a successful offensive to retake the town of Mambasa.

The Congolese Liberation Movement had previously lost the town to a rival rebel group. Jean-Pierre Bemba, the group’s leader, has said he was “shocked” by reports that his troops ate people.

Addressing the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Makelo told the body to ask the Security Council, the UN Committee on Human Rights and other bodies to recognise acts of cannibalism as a crime against humanity and acts of genocide.

He also asked the United Nations to set up an international tribunal to try those accused of such crimes.

Ekundanayo, the Permanent Forum member, said no figures on the number of such assaults are available.

[Saint Marcus]

additionally:

"The number of women raped has been astronomical ... they are tearing women, young and old, apart."

[Ecthy]

sounds like East Germany 1945-195?

[TheStinger]

It will do some good if the command structure does not have civillans interferring, thats what happened in Rwanda when the Belgians could have stopped teh massacre at that school they were protecting and thats what happened at Sebrenicia.

If you sent in the UK airmobile brigade with e foregin legion and the equivalent German force they could at least make the rebels stop and think

[The Mad Monk]

Who was eating the East germans?

[lightblue]

I think the rules of engagement for the current "peacekeepers" are of the kind that they are allowed to interfere when they see things happen, but not go and look for it if they hear rumors.

The intervention force will not have blue helmets, will be heavily armed and will have robust rules of engagement
(http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...l=968793972154 as an example which I googled up).

I'd find it hard to do anything more than control a city or so with that many troops in that kind of terrain. If you spread out too much, soldiers will end up like the two peacekeepers that were killed and had their hearts an stomachs removed the other week. The other problem is that you have to decide who the aggressor is. In one area one tribe might try to exterminate another, but that tribe might be doing the same to another tribe a couple of miles down the road. It is going to be a messy mission if they actually try to something, and completely inefficient if they keep to the current state.

[Panag]

hi ,

next week they are going to send the belgians in , ......

maybe its time the Israeli's go back , .....

but for one or the other strange reason it does not have a lot of weight in it , .....

"send the French in" - "the belgians are coming" that has some weight in africa , .......

aldo after 94 the belgians are being made a mockery , ......

have a nice day

[Panag]

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat


That's why I suggested three airmobile brigades to go on the offensive against the rebels.

hi ,

huh , the cold war is over , ......

as long as the world does not care , no-one gives a rats@@@ , ......

there is nothing left that posses a thread to the world economy , no vital supply lines with key strategic resources , .....

as useall no-one cares when it comes to africa , the french do , ....

a lot of articles , but no-one here seems to know that the french are allready there and some french troops aint under un command , .... ( guess why )

have a nice day

[TheStinger]

A couple of platoons MBT's would probably defeat most of their troops.

[Panag]

Originally posted by TheStinger
A couple of platoons MBT's would probably defeat most of their troops.

hi ,

not in that terrain , ......

you need the queen of the army , good old basic infantry , and lots of them , combined with heli's , .....

have a nice day