The United Nations’ first-ever attack force is facing “a moment of truth,” a UN diplomat says, as it begins full-scale operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“This is an historic and risky mission,” observed the diplomat, who spoke on condition that neither his name nor his country be reported.
“A lot can go wrong, but the UN has got to get this right because the stakes are so high.”

A successful outcome in the DRC could encourage the UN to add offensive capabilities to its traditionally defensive peacekeeping deployments in other countries, the diplomat noted. But, he added, failure or stalemate in the web of wars in eastern DRC was likely to prevent the UN from playing a proactive role in other internal conflicts that continue for years while the US and other military powers avoid entanglement.

The UN combat unit now operating in the DRC has its origins in the inability of the 19,000-member UN peacekeeping mission to halt attacks last year by a rebel group known as M23.

Reacting to that embarrassment, the Security Council in March authorised creation of a 3,000-strong Force Intervention Brigade to conduct “targeted offensive operations” inside the DRC.

The Council specified that the force will operate in “a robust, highly mobile and versatile manner,” employing the tools and tactics of a first-strike contingent. It consists of Tanzanian, South African and Malawian troops, and is commanded by Brigadier General James Mwakilobwa of Tanzania.

And analysts expect it to begin engaging the M23 rebel group within the next couple of weeks.

Jason Stearns, a US-based Congo expert, points to pitfalls facing the Force Intervention Brigade. “The Congolese government is purposely ratcheting up the pressure on the UN to make it use military force and to position the blue helmets as scapegoats if anything goes wrong.”

Mr Stearns warned recently on his blog, Congo Siasa. “But a military offensive contains plenty of dangers: The M23 could embarrass the UN troops, or UN troops could be complicit in abuses carried out by the Congolese army.”

Offensive operations could also thwart efforts to reach a political settlement that must involve Rwanda as well as local armies in eastern DRC along with the nominal central government in Kinshasa.

Rwanda, which is accused by UN experts and human-rights group of sustaining M23, has already criticised the intervention brigade. It is collaborating with the Rwandan government’s nemesis, the FDLR rebel force, Rwanda’s UN ambassador charged last month in a message to the Security Council.

The brigade is too small to achieve a decisive military victory, adds John Prendergast, a Washington-based analyst with long experience in Central Africa. He suggests that it is “not remotely able to deal with scope and scale of the armed groups in Congo.”

The UN is carrying out such a strategy under the leadership of special envoys Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland, and Martin Kobler, a German diplomat. In addition, US President Barack Obama recently appointed former senator Russell Feingold, long a voice for US involvement in Africa, as the White House’s point man for the DRC.

The UN has also joined forces with the World Bank to offer financial incentives for peace in the region.

In a joint effort that could prove as historic as the UN’s turn toward combat, the World Bank has begun closely co-ordinating its development programme with the UN’s strategic objectives.

The bank is pledging a $1 billion effort to build infrastructure and create jobs in the DRC-Rwanda border region.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters during a visit to the DRC in May that his undertaking with World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim is “unprecedented in the history” of the two institutions.

The relationship can be summed up in a comment that the Economist magazine reports Mr Kim making to Mr Ban: “You bring the troops and we’ll bring the dollars.”