Peacekeeping in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Lauren Andersen

Spain

4th Main Committee

Peacekeeping in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

As tensions have been on the rise in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Spain seeks to maintain peace within the country for both the wellbeing of the Congolese people, and citizens of the surrounding countries. To maintain stability within the country, Spain wishes to keep UN officials mobilized in DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo) to withhold rebel groups from attacking. It is within the best interest that all countries support the persistence in dampening the many armed groups in DRC.

Conflict first arose in 1994 when 1.2 million Hutus fled from Rwanda into the DRC. Subsequently, the Rwandan government played a hand in bringing Laurent Kabila into power, whose bigotry angered both the Congolese people and the Rwandans who brought him to office, which led to the Second Congo War. The Second Congo War involved 11 African States, and in total, resulted in 3.8 million deaths. In 1999, a ceasefire agreement was signed, however, there have still been issues between the two countries since.

The DRC made a significant step towards change in 2006 when their first impartial elections were held, electing Joseph Kabila to govern. Even with a more stable government in place, the military was wavering control in some areas and a group of armed, Congolese soldiers left the army and formed at group called M23 with a goal to uproot the government. Their first step was taking over the capital city. While doing this, they killed countless amounts of people and forced some to flee their homes and livelihood. Shortly after this, MONUSCO, an acronym based off of “The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo”, entered The Democratic Republic of Congo to establish peace among the citizens.

Following MONUSCO’s first entry, there have been two major changes involved in creating and maintaining peace. The most recent decision being to formulate a new FIB, Force Intervention Brigade, which will include sending 3,000 troops along with UAVs, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to maintain the safety of MONUSCO personnel. Both strengths are used for the purpose of protecting the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo, deterring rebel groups from expanding, and disarming those who are a threat to civilians. It has been nearly a year since MONUSCO was last involved in the DRC. Spain desires to lengthen the amount of time MONUSCO is located in the DRC to maintain peace for the citizens and reduce conflict in surrounding African Countries.

Sources

“Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO).” Better World Campaign, betterworldcampaign.org/u-n-peacekeeping/democratic-republic-of-congo-monusco/#0.

“Democratic Republic of the Congo: Conflict and Peace.” Peace Insight,

Zapata, Mollie. “Congo: The First and Second Wars, 1996-2003.” The Enough Project, 29 Nov. 2011, enoughproject.org/blog/congo-first-and-second-wars-1996-2003.