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EDITORIALS

CONGO WILL REMAIN LAWLESS UNTIL THE UN'S HAND ARE UNTIED

Congo will remain lawless until the UN's hands are untied
By David Blair in Goma
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 26/11/2008

It's an axiom of war that when enemy forces are massed outside the gates, rumour and conspiracy become the stuff of every conversation within them. In Goma, a city sealed off by rebels from the rest of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the word on the street is popularly known as "Radio Trottoir" - pavement radio.

Radio Trottoir went into overdrive on Sunday when a United Nations convoy brought 10 former militia members into town. The men had surrendered and the UN was dealing with them in a routine and proper way.

By malign chance, soldiers from Congo's shambolic national army happened to stop the convoy. Having found the detained men, they triumphantly declared that the UN had been caught in the act of masterminding a grand conspiracy to infiltrate rebels into Goma. The word spread and gangs soon began stoning UN vehicles.

This episode drove home the impossible task faced by the UN mission in Congo - known by its French acronym, Monuc - and why the Security Council's decision last Thursday to send another 3,000 troops will make little difference.

The truth is that the UN is caught in such a thicket of regulations and constraints - and such a snake-pit of mistrust - that it cannot possibly be effective.

The situation is grim. Rebels led by General Laurent Nkunda have broken out of an enclave established by an earlier deal and advanced in all directions. Their positions are less than eight miles from Goma and their forces control both of the city's main access routes.

The rebels are faced by a motley collection of opponents, ranging from the national army, to the militias who conducted Rwanda's genocide 14 years ago. A ceasefire could collapse at any moment.

What should the UN do? Superficially, the answer is simple. With 17,000 troops - and another 3,000 on the way - it should simply force all the armed groups back to their agreed positions, as specified in the Goma peace accords signed in January.

This would lift the city's siege and allow free access for humanitarian aid. Once all the factions have been pushed back, peace talks could begin in earnest.

Some of this has happened, but only in a very limited way. The UN has slowed Gen Nkunda's advance, killing a few fighters. Meanwhile, Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president of Nigeria, has begun to mediate peace talks. But a general offensive against all the armed groups, designed to enforce the Goma accords, is impossible. For one, UN troops are spread across the entire country, with fewer than 7,000 in the North Kivu province, the epicentre of the conflict.

Far more importantly, the UN's rules of engagement and formal operating constraints seem to have been designed for an exercise in Sweden, not a war in the heart of Africa. In theory, the UN mission was established with a "Chapter Seven" mandate - the UN's strongest - meaning that it has authority to use lethal force to impose its will.

In practice, UN forces have only been equipped, and only operate - save for their limited actions against Gen Nkunda - like impartial peacekeepers. This means UN troops only open fire after bellowing verbal warnings and shooting over the heads of their foes. In a land of rainforest and verdant bush, UN soldiers must drive vehicles painted bright white - hardly the best camouflage for a fighting force.

Their helicopters cannot fly at night - except for two, which have basic equipment allowing them to take off in a full moon. Even if they could fly at night, they would not be allowed to open fire, thanks to a "collateral damage" rule, which can be summed up thus: there must be none.

Then there are the civilian contractors who do not work at weekends, and the agreements with troop contributing countries, laying down that their men must only be quartered in proper barracks, with hot and cold running water. How do you move troops quickly when accommodation of this standard must first be prepared? Sending another 3,000 troops will make little difference.

Instead, Britain should urge the world's leading powers to review the UN's role from top to bottom. What Congo needs is a proper expeditionary force, capable of enforcing two key demands on all the armed groups.

The first is that the gunmen must stay in whatever locations they presently hold. The second is that they must not harm any civilians. If any group breaks these demands, the UN must have the soldiers and mobility to inflict swift and heavy punishment.

Hardly any of the gunmen who cause such misery in Congo are fighting for a cause. They are not ideologues. Instead, they fight because a gun brings power and security. Change this, and they would probably give up very quickly. The lesson from Britain's intervention in Sierra Leone is that African rebel groups collapse when they receive one heavy blow.

The Security Council should tear up the mission's rules of engagement, transform it into a proper expeditionary force and empower it to start delivering those blows.

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