I have always thought the UN peace keepers in any conflict-stricken country is to keep neutral while ensuring the security for the affected civilians. This I still think is their role.

However, in many cases, these troops have done the opposite of my expectations; these peace keepers have on several accounts been accused of failing to meet the civilians’ security needs.

They failed in Rwanda in 1990s; have not done much to help Durfur and have been in DRC for the last decade where the troops were accused of sexual abuses and recently managed to support DRC-FDRL against Nkunda.

Instead of mediating the two conflicting parties, the organisation instead started accusing Rwanda for backing Nkunda’s rebels.

Which role is the international body supposed to play in such cases? I think Bashir’s government was right not to trust them but opt for a hybrid of UN-AU troops in the troubled Darfur region.

Can Africans still bank on such an army for its people’s security?

Kigali