Congo complexity will test U.N. offensive peacekeeping

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20130507/OPINION/305070002/Congo-complexity-will-test-U-N-offensive-peacekeeping?nclick_check=1

 

Congo complexity will test U.N. offensive peacekeeping

Written by AUSTIN BAY

May. 06

statesmanjournal.com

On March 28, the U.N. Security Council approved the creation of a
war-making-peacekeeping unit, a "specialized intervention brigade" designed
to destroy the vicious rogue militias that plague the Democratic Republic of
Congo's chaotic eastern provinces.

You won't find the oxymoron "war-making-peacekeeping" in U.N. Security
Council Resolution 2098's published text; the oxymoron's truth is much too
blunt for gun-shy diplomats. Careful euphemisms like "neutralize" and
"disarm" camouflage the order to rid poor and suffering Congo of
paramilitary gangsters. The resolution avoids edgy but much more
on-the-ground honest verbs like decimate, destroy and eliminate.

But the word games end and the commitment to openly wage war as an ally of
the shaky national government in Kinshasa begins when 2098 authorizes the
Intervention Brigade to conduct mobile and versatile "targeted offensive
operations ... unilaterally or jointly" with the Congolese Army. Of course,
offensive attacks will be conducted "in strict compliance with international
law."

Resolution 2098 attempts to blunt criticism by declaring that the
Intervention Brigade's Congo war does not set a precedent for any future
operations. But this is at best a statement reflecting wish and hope. The
"no precedent" Intervention Brigade is a profound precedent.

Two gangs 2098 targets for neutralization are utterly loathsome. Uganda's
Lords Resistance Army (LRA) and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of
Rwanda (FDLR) have raped, murdered and tortured tens of thousands and
displaced hundreds of thousands more. War criminal Joseph Kony, of KONY 2012
video infamy, commands the LRA. Extremist Hutus who committed the 1994
Rwandan genocide organized the FDLR. Their "no precedent' destruction is
overdue.

The rogue militia that directly led to 2098's creation, the March 23
Movement (M23), has more complicated origins, however. M23 ostensibly sprang
from a Congolese Tutsi tribal militia raised to combat the FDLR. The Tutsi
force allied with the Rwandan government when it went to war with the
Congolese national government in Kinshasa. In 2012, M23 established in North
Kivu what 2098 calls "an illegitimate parallel administration." That is
diplo-speak for a rebel government. In some circumstances, it is a step
toward political legitimacy.

I doubt M23's legitimacy. U.N. investigators have evidence that it is a
proxy for opaque interests in Rwanda and Uganda. In March, M23 split into
warring factions. Rwanda and Uganda both back the Intervention Brigade. For
now, there is little likelihood that the brigade will help Kinshasa's
corrupt and tyrannical government defeat a legitimate eastern Congolese
rebel movement. The Congolese government, however, is corrupt and
tyrannical. Legitimate rebel movements do and ought to challenge corrupt
tyrannies.

Resolution 2098 mentions "deteriorating security" in mineral-rich Katanga
province (south Congo). Since the 1960 Katangan rebellion (it spurred the
U.N. to deploy its first African peacekeeping mission, U.N. Operation in the
Congo), Katanga has been Congo's most volatile region. Belgian colonialists
backed that rebellion, which U.N. peacekeepers forcibly ended in late 1962.
Katangan rebels invaded the province in 1977 and 1978; international
military forces, supporting dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, defeated both
invasions.

Resolution 2098 mentions two Katangan militias, suggesting they are brigade
targets. The Gedeon militia is led by a mass murderer. But Kata-Katanga
militiamen claim they are fighting for regional autonomy. Some Congolese
sources assert the two militias are one and the same. Others are less
certain. In March, Kata-Katanga raided Katanga's provincial capital. The
poorly armed militiamen were unsophisticated but surprisingly courageous.
Pro-government military and police units defeated them, quickly.

Then, on April 19, a Kata-Katangan political platform emerged. The group
charged the Kinshasa government with stealing mineral royalties from
Katangans. And does it ever, by the millions. Kata-Katanga has now tied its
raid to a legitimate political issue. Is the rogue a rebel?

U.N. peacekeepers know graft, bribery and nepotism infest the Kinshasa
government. It would love to eliminate regional political rivals, and
subterfuge by Kinshasa is a certainty. Conceivably, the Intervention Brigade
could destroy a crude, politically naive but potentially legitimate rebel
faction. Avoiding that mistake requires superb military and political
intelligence. U.N. peacekeepers acknowledge accurate intelligence is rare.

The U.N.'s no-precedent Intervention Brigade precedent exists for good
reason. The trick will be to keep it from becoming a very bad precedent.

Austin Bay is an author and colonel (retired) in the U.S. Army Reserve. He
writes for Creators Syndicate, 5777 W. Century Blvd., Suite 700, Los
Angeles, CA 90045. Send email through <http://www.creators.com/>
www.Creators.com or <http://www.austinbay.net/> www.austinbay.net.