An all-African peacekeeping force is what we need

Editor, RE: “Rwanda calls for review of UN peacekeeping processes” (The New Times, August 30). It is always refreshing to hear about these incessant attempts by leaders, both government representatives and UN/international think tanks, to try and come up with viable and long lasting solutions to our never-ending, pointless and blood-soaked conflicts which usually target innocent civilians. I also have to be realistic. Never in the history of the United Nations, has any tangible solution been agreed upon and put into action to make the lives of civilians a top priority at these innumerable roundtables held regularly. Sadly it appears, and one can argue that what happened in our country is the motivation behind, as though the government singlehandedly wants to end this cancer ravaging the continent. I don’t recall seeing any other government body on the continent pour so much energy and resources into conflict resolution as much as Rwanda has. And that’s about it. Countries such as Congo, Burundi, CAR, South Sudan etc, all seem to be, and I’m far from throwing around blame, just waiting for a foreign benevolent savior to come in and use a magic wand to whisk away their misery, oftentimes the hero being Western authorities. And ironically our troubled nations fail to realize the real driving force behind the decades-long instability we are constantly facing. Our beloved President Kagame taking over the leadership of the African Union as of next year gives us some semblance of hope, for he’s best equipped, better than anyone I can think of. I hope he uses his power presiding the AU to get rid of all foreign non-African troops in DRC (Minusco being number one on the list) and replaces them with an all African peacekeeping mission that truly wants to see Africa completely free of armed conflicts. Afterall, no one cares about your wellbeing better than yourself. Rwanda has learned that lesson the harshest way imaginable! Ali Rukariza

Opinions

An all-African peacekeeping force is what we need