United Nation peacekeepers can’t do more with less: India
NEW DELHI: Days after an Indian peacekeeper was hurt in an attack in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), India protested against UN peacekeepers being asked to do more for less. Addressing a UN Security Council Open Debate on Strengthening Peacekeeping Operations in Africa on Tuesday, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin said such a policy was “setting us all up for a tragedy.”
On Friday, a CRPF trooper of the Indian Formed Police Unit of the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or MONUSCO, was “lightly wounded” in an attack by rebels. Earlier in the week, a peacekeeper from Tanzania and another from Malawi were killed.
Akbaruddin listed some things that the UN should do to strengthen operations there. One, the prioritisation of mandates, which would help in judicious allocation of meagre resources available for implementing them. Two, given that the size and scale of UN deployment are insufficient for the tasks entrusted, “the strategy of peacekeepers needing to do more with less is setting us all up for a tragedy,” he said. Three, “predictable and sustainable financing,” and four, doing away with unfair troop distribution on the ground, due to the number of unfair caveats while deploying in Africa. And finally, “longer-term efforts for expanding African capacities and enhancing collective cooperation.”
Know the mission
The second UN mission was established to restore peace during the Second Congo War in 1999, and has been ongoing ever since. It is the largest and most expensive peacekeeping mission, with the deployment of 19,000 troops and over 1,000 police from more than 30 countries, with India being the largest contributor. The current budget is set at $7.9 billion.
