As you may remember several UN peacekeepers were ambushed and killed in Congo last week. Almost as soon their
bodies were rapatriated the UN began
striking back.
military operations were under way in the Ituri region, where almost 250 Pakistani and South African troops on Tuesday slew at least 50 militiamen and destroyed two of their camps.
This has been
endorsed at the highest levels.
In a statement, the United Nations Security Council "condemns with the utmost firmness the attack against a patrol" of UN peacekeepers on February 25 that resulted "in the assassination of nine Bangladeshi peacekeepers."
It's good to see the UN hit back for once.
I hope this could be the impetus for the peacekeeping effort in Congo to come closer to a peace-enforcing effort. The war in Congo has killed over
three and perhaps as many as five million people. When the wingnuts say that Iraq is small potatoes, they have a point. It a war this lethal took place in Europe it would be leading the nightly news every night.
I believe the United Nations should have a small but efficient armed force of its own, financed by international deep sea mining rights (or something of the sort), that would make it easier for the Security Council to intervene in cases such as the Congo and Rwanda and Darfur.
A small force could never alter great power balances, so it should be no threat and a highly useful tool. I realize that it would fly like a lead balloon in the US right now. Still something to aim for in the long run.