UN approves DR Congo ‘intervention brigade’
The UN Security Council has unanimously approved the unprecedented ‘offensive’ UN peacekeeping brigade to fight rebels groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo. More than 2,500 troops will be deployed in order to ‘disarm’ and ‘neutralise’ armed groups in the eastern Congo according to the resolution passed last week.
With a one year mandate established ‘on an exceptional basis and without creating a precedent’ to the principles of UN peacekeeping, the resolution gives the brigade a mandate to operate ‘in a robust, highly mobile and versatile manner’ to ensure that armed groups cannot threaten the government or civilians.
UN peacekeepers have been unable to protect civilians from M23 rebels since April 2013 when hundreds of troops defected from the Congolese army. This resolution strongly condemns their presence in the vicinity of Goma where they attempt to form ‘an illegitimate parallel administration in North Kivu’ province.
Aside from disbanding the rebels, the brigade is also tasked with monitoring an arms embargo, as well as to observe and report on the flows of military personnel, weapons and equipment across the border of eastern Congo including by ‘surveillance capabilities provided by unmanned aerial systems’.
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