Media reports from the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo indicate that eight UN peacekeepers deployed in the region were last week detained over engaging in illicit sexual activities. The peacekeepers under the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in DR Congo (MONUSCO), were arrested from the Congolese town of Beni in the east of the country, after they were allegedly caught with commercial sex workers in a bar after curfew in total disregard of their rules of engagement. The latest is that South Africa, the country where the contingent comes from has recalled the implicated peacekeepers for further questioning, while a team of investigators has been dispatched to probe further their misconduct. This is not the first time that peacekeepers under this force have been implicated in abuses. In 2017, five of them were interdicted for the same reason, including fathering children with underage girls from the civilian population. Peacekeepers under MONUSCO, which has been deployed in the country for close to three decades, have also been linked to other abuses including getting involved in illicit trade in minerals, and at worst exchanging firearms for minerals. However, the constant accusation facing the multinational peacekeeping mission is their spectacular failure to deliver on its mandate, which is to restore sanity in the eastern part of DR Congo despite this being the most expensive mission under the UN. Violence has been endemic in this part of the country. Hundreds of thousands of citizens have had to flee the country to find safety in neighbouring countries including Rwanda, while millions more are internally displaced. Reports over the years have actually linked the peacekeepers to the chaos that has been prevalent in this part of the country, which is littered with armed militia groups in their hundreds. For a well-funded peacekeeping mission, the inappropriate behavior of some of its officers can probably be excused if at least they were doing something to deliver on their mandate. However, this is not the case because they are instead part of the problems that have bedeviled this region.
