The UN’s Incompetence in DRC

The UN just doesn’t get it. It does not get how irrelevant it is becoming to the rest of the world. And even worse, it does not get how it’s past and recent failures from Rwanda (1994), to Darfur and Syria, among many other missions, have exposed its incompetence in dealing with global issues. The UN is becoming the laughing stock of the rest of the world. One does not have to be an international relations genius to understand how the UN is arguably turning into an incompetent organization.This explains its attitude towards Africa, and more specifically, Rwanda. It is filled with condescension. This condescension and arrogance would have been understandable if the UN had provided a sterling record of delivering both peace and stability. Sadly, the UN has no success story to speak of. Instead, the organisation is known for its lavish spending and unsubstantiated and questionable allegations against sovereign states.The tragedy here is that the UN could have played a valuable role. Every year, billions of dollars are dispensed in this organization to ensure it delivers global peace and stability. If the billions of dollars could have been well spent, millions of people could have been rescued from the catastrophes they experienced or are still experiencing.A country like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which has the largest and most expensive UN presence in the world, has had little to show of it, if any. What happened? Why did billions of dollars fail to foster peace and stability in the DRC? Yet we were told that, institutionally, there was no better global organisation than the UN to solve the Congolese misery. But it failed.Why on earth should the UN stabilising mission in DRC (MONUSCO) come up with such risky allegations that Rwanda is backing Congolese rebels, without caring to provide any proof? Yet such reckless allegations can only exacerbate the already fragile situation in eastern DRC!To understand why, just study the history of this organisation. Its employees spend most of their time writing meaningless reports and touring the world in the name of addressing global challenges.Years have been wasted, and the result: countless lives have been lost. In the DRC, the UN has shown moral cowardice on Congolese issues. By refusing to acknowledge its failures, it is increasingly becoming a threat to peace and stability in the Great Lakes region. For some unclear reasons (at least to me), the UN always seems to victimize Rwanda for all its DRC failures, instead of claiming ownership – a first step to resolving any challenge. Why?Curiously, few Rwandans bear any resentment towards the UN, despite its tragic role in our sad history. Rwandans are focused on the future, not the past. However, we do expect the UN to treat us with respect, not condescension.Rwandans and the Congolese want to see a strong UN. We still believe that the UN has a role to play in this complex region. But, if the UN does not reform substantially, it faces a decisive challenge: the organisation needs both DRC and Rwanda to achieve its expensive mandate, but do we need the UN to achieve this?The truly sad thing is that the UN may be beyond repair. Even if it did not substantively reformed itself, chances are that we would progress well without it – it is the single organisation in human history that has done more bad than good to humanity.Frankly, the best thing that UN member countries should do is to suspend MONUSCO. Because, as DRC has demonstrated, it is a complete failure.

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The UN’s Incompetence in DRC