UN must stop backing Congo’s disastrous operation against marauding rebel militias

The United Nations is finally having to confront what most observers already know: Its limited but unconditional support for a Congolese army operation to disarm Rwandan Hutu rebels in eastern Congo has made a bad situation worse.

The army attacks have made no real progress against the rebels, have been accompanied by serious human rights violations, and have prompted massive reprisals against the civilian population.

The Congolese and United Nations must abandon this approach and move to a comprehensive strategy that matches targeted military actions with civilian protection, respect for human rights and expansion of responsible state authority to the region.

A leaked UN-sponsored report by a committee of experts on arms embargo violations addresses the recent military operations carried out by Congolese government forces against the rebel militias under the banner of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

The UN mission has been supporting these offensives with food, fuel and logistics.

The leaked report confirms that these operations have so far failed miserably to root out the militias.

Instead, they have aggravated an already devastating humanitarian crisis.

It is not just that the Congolese forces are unable to protect local civilians from reprisals, including massive killings and rape used as a weapon of war.

The report documents credible evidence that government soldiers, notably the anti-Rwandan rebels recently reintegrated into the army, themselves have been raping and killing civilians by the thousands.

The ill-disciplined Congolese army is part of the problem in eastern Congo far more than part of the solution.

The UN peacekeeping mission — Monuc — has close to 20,000 troops in the Congo at a cost of $1.4 billion a year, the largest and most expensive UN mission in the world.

But as their support for the Congolese attacks indicates, the mission has lost direction and a sense of purpose.

Joseph Kabila, Congo’s president, has asked that a withdrawal plan be presented to him by June 30, 2010, for the 50th anniversary of Congo’s independence.

But Monuc’s leadership is not the only one to blame.

The UN Security Council gave the mission 41 priority tasks in its last mandate, illustrating their own lack of vision: If you have 41 priorities, in reality you have no priorities.