Since the UN Security Council gave the go-ahead more than two months ago to add 3,000 more peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has not gotten much help from 65 nations he approached.
In a letter made public on Tuesday, Ban advised the council that only Bangladesh committed to offer more troops or police: an infantry battalion, a company of engineers and a police unit.
Belgium said it would provide a C-130 military transport aircraft.
Five other nations said they would send intelligence experts, but not the equipment those people will need, Ban said.
The UN chief said that “troop-contributing countries have not been as receptive as we had hoped” despite the UN’s best efforts.
“The need for robust and highly mobile troops was particularly emphasized,” he said. “I am especially concerned about the lack of formal offers of special forces companies.”
Another big worry is that no nation has expressed an interest in or committed to providing another C-130 aircraft, 18 helicopters and 200 military trainers and advisers that are needed, he said.
“These resources are essential for the mission’s mobility and rapid reaction capacity, which are vital if it is to fulfill the mandate set out by the Security Council,” Ban said.
Japanese Ambassador Yukio Takasu, who took over the presidency of the Security Council this month, said its members have been discussing the shortfalls.
“I think the council needs to help with that to expedite the deployment,” he said.
The council in November approved the temporary expansion to assist the 17,000 peacekeeping soldiers and police authorized in the DR Congo who now make up the UN’s largest such force. Since then, however, the conflict in the area has taken a surprising turn.
DR Congo’s Tutsi-led rebellion had controlled a large swath of territory north of Goma, the regional capital. But then neighboring Rwanda turned on rebel chief Laurent Nkunda and detained him as part of a deal in which rebels from a splinter faction led by Bosco Ntaganda said they would operate under the DR Congo’s army command and integrate into its ranks.
Rwanda gained approval to send thousands of troops into DR Congo and conduct a joint military offensive aimed at disarming Rwandan Hutu militias who fled to DR Congo in the wake of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.
DR Congo has been wracked by violence since Rwanda’s 1994 genocide spilled war across the border. Rwandan Hutu militias who participated in the 1994 massacres of more than 500,000 people in Rwanda have sought refuge in DR Congo.
On the bright side, Ban said, four nations expressed interest in providing a second battalion and a fifth nation indicated it might be able to help with a second police unit.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in