Drones for Congo! Let’s wait and see

The proposal floated at the United Nations Security Council that drones be deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is as unfortunate as it is based on false premises. A number of reasons have been stated as being the motivation for this rather unexpected move on the part of the United Nations to bolster its now moribund peacekeeping effort in the DRC. Why now and to what ends are they making this move?Without doubt, the people managing the United Nations’ mission in Congo realise its weaknesses and the fact that serious intervention is needed to deal with the endless cycle of violence; that has now ravaged the second largest country in Africa.Ever since the introduction of this high-tech, unmanned war machine called the drone, its primary goal has been the targeted assassination or elimination of militant leaders in Afghanistan, Pakistan and some parts of the Arab world by the United States. And each attack is approved by the president of the United States. Recently, they were introduced in the Horn of Africa to deal with the radical Islamist Al Shabab.The secondary role of the drone is the gathering of intelligence and this is what the U.S. has used against the Islamic militants. But the introduction of the drones in Congo, if it is adopted by the U.N., will be a shift that has not been envisaged by many actors in the Great Lakes Region.The drones are a way of minimising human casualties; the ‘all important lives’ of the Westerners who seem unwilling to risk their lives at all. But this is a wrong intervention for a wrong cause. As Rwanda’s representative put it at the U.N., it will set a wrong precedent. Also, once this move is implemented, it will psychologically equate some of the protagonists in the DRC to the notorious Islamic terrorists.That in itself de-legitimises those who have a justified cause they are struggling for in the DRC if they become targets of these aerial unmanned vehicles of war. For example, if a group like the M23 whose cause has legitimacy and regional understanding as seen through their participation in the Kampala talks with Kinshasa, becomes a target of drone warfare or espionage, the move will most likely serve to scuttle the ongoing regional peace efforts. At this point in time, the U.N. mission in DR Congo would ideally be looking at the endgame for its long running peacekeeping mission, if at all they have any peace to keep or are keeping. It appears that their mission is an open-ended contract of sorts in the DR Congo. For example what are their targets – short term or long term – and what is the timeframe for achieving that? And when do they have to admit failure and stop pretending to be doing something important for the Congolese people?On another note, I read with incredulity the story of the National University of Rwanda lecturer who was killed, allegedly by his estranged partner. What flabbergasted me was the fact that we have in our midst people willing to do a contract murder for a mere Rwf300,000! This shows a level of decadence that many thought did not exist in this wonderful country. Youths who are willing to do such a heinous crime do not only lack some simple common sense but have no hopes in life. Such little money can be got with minimal effort from other legitimate deals. In the first place, how did such a woman and her hit men ever envisage getting away with such a heinous crime, done so shoddily and in an environment where crime of such nature can never go unearthed? Crazy world.At the same time it points to a breakdown of normal family life and values in sections of our society, and the fact that some people no longer appreciate the importance of having a father figure for one’s children. What a pity!