Feral Jundi

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Africa: UN’s Congo Operation Under Scrutiny

Filed under: Afghanistan,Africa,Congo — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 2:08 PM

   I posted another story below this about the UN screwing the pooch on Afghanistan as well, when they sacked Peter Galbraith for speaking truth to power about the elections there.

   But the real star of this post, is the UN and their criminal work in the Congo.  I say criminal, because to sit there and allow these rapes and murders to happen, while standing there with a gun in your hand and calling yourself a peacekeeper, is beyond just incompetence–it is criminal. What happened to the Responsibility to Protect?  How do you allow this to continue and say that it is ok, while in the same breath calling yourselves peacekeepers?  Some heads need to roll on this one, and some top leadership needs to be held accountable. Or better yet, hire some professionals to do the job right, or don’t do the job at all.-Matt

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UN’s Congo operation under scrutiny

By Harvey Morris at the United Nations

Published: October 18 2009 23:15 | Last updated: October 18 2009 23:15

The strategy of the United Nations’ biggest peacekeeping force is under scrutiny following reports that government forces it is supporting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have used wide-scale rape and murder as weapons of war.

Abuses committed in a campaign against rebels in the east of the country have been extensively catalogued by human rights organisations. They have now come to the fore with a claim by one of the UN’s own experts that the results of an 8-month UN-backed offensive have been “catastrophic”.

“Hundreds of thousands have been displaced, thousands raped, hundreds of villages burnt to the ground, and at least 1,000 civilians killed,” Philip Alston, the UN’s special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, said in a statement last week after a 10-day visit to the DRC.

What Mr Alston termed the “nightmare situation” in the eastern Kivu region underlined the dilemma of peacekeepers required to conduct increasingly robust and proactive mandates handed to them by the UN Security Council with what their commanders often complain are inadequate resources.

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Monday, September 28, 2009

Africa: FP Interview’s Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire

Filed under: Africa — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 11:37 AM

   Boy, I wish Elizabeth would have had the gumption to actually discuss the concept of R2P, and the work of UNWG.  Or talk about AFRICAP and how PMC’s and PSC’s could actually be the solution for some of these manpower issues.  I kept reading the transcripts below thinking that this is where the line of questioning should logically go, but it did not.

   If the good General is reading this, perhaps you wouldn’t mind doing an interview with PMH to discuss these things? And how cool would that be to get Eeben Barlow, Doug Brooks, and David Isenberg all on the line as well, and actually discuss the concepts? Now that would be a party. lol –Matt

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Interview: Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire

The general who tried to stop the Rwandan genocide warns FP that the line has blurred between peacekeeping and counterinsurgency. It’s a cautionary tale for the age of Afghanistan and Iraq. Are the world’s militaries up to the task?

BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | SEPTEMBER 21, 2009

There are few who can say they have been as close to stopping genocide as retired Lt. Gen Roméo Dallaire, the Canadian commander of the United Nations peacekeeping forces in Rwanda in 1994. Long before the killing began, Dallaire sounded a warning call. Then, he begged for reinforcements and a mandate to use force — neither of which he got — as his troops fatefully watched hundreds of thousands of Rwandans slaughtered. “You should spit in my face,” says the character based on Dallaire in the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda. “[The West is] not going to stop the slaughter.” The world did little then, and so in real life, Dallaire has spent much of his last decade and a half reminding the world not to let the same happen again.

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Thursday, September 24, 2009

Funny Stuff: Translator Collapsed During Gaddafi’s Rambling Diatribe

Filed under: Funny Stuff,Libya — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 8:01 PM

   Believe me, you do not want to sit through this speech and listen to what he had to say.  You would end up scooping your eyeballs out with a spoon from the insanity of it all. lol. But this little nugget of funny is what got me.  Check it out. –Matt

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Translator collapsed during Khadafy’s rambling diatribe

By CHUCK BENNETT and JEREMY OLSHAN

September 24, 2009

After struggling to turn Khadafy’s insane ramblings at the UN into English for 75 minutes, the Libyan dictator’s personal interpreter got lost in translation.

“I just can’t take it any more,” Khadafy’s interpreter shouted into the live microphone – in Arabic.

At that point, the U.N.’s Arabic section chief, Rasha Ajalyaqeen, took over and translated the final 20 minutes of the speech.

“His interpreter just collapsed – this is the first time I have seen this in 25 years,” another U.N. Arabic interpreter told The Post.

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Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Books: Privatising Peace, By Malcolm Hugh Patterson

Filed under: Books — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 3:05 PM

   I have not read this book, but it came up on my radar and I thought I would get the word out about it.  Certainly this is a controversial subject, and hopefully it will spark some rational debate about the concept.  Oh, and this won’t be shipping out until December, so you have some time to sell a kidney to buy this sucker. lol –Matt

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Amazon

Privatising Peace: A Corporate Adjunct to United Nations Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Operations

By Malcolm Hugh Patterson

Review

Malcolm Patterson has written an eminently readable and thought-provoking book that forces us to reconsider again our ideas about peacekeeping and whether, after the debacles in Somalia, Rwanda and the Congo, it is now time to consider privatising peacekeeping. Essential reading for anyone with an interest in understanding how the market might impact on peacekeeping operations. – Dr Christopher Kinsey, Defence Studies Department, King’s College London at the Joint Command and Staff College, Defence Academy of the UK

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Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Industry Talk: Staffers Deemed Unsafe at 20 U.N. Outposts

Filed under: Industry Talk — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 11:55 PM

    How come this doesn’t surprise me?  Now I know the U.N. contracts out some security, but if this report is true, then obviously they are not putting enough effort into the deal.  Competent security contractors that are monitored and well managed can totally answer the needs of the U.N., if the U.N. could open up to the possibilities.

   Also, I would imagine that many of the sites are poorly positioned in the city or wherever, and does not have the buffer necessary to protect from attacks.  The rule of thumb is that if you can park a truck near your compound, or that people can get near your compound without any kind of screening or physical barriers stopping them, then you are unsafe. Please note the recent attack in Baghdad with the truck bombs parked near government facilities.  The U.N. should know better, and there are plenty of examples of what to do, and what not to do.

    Worse yet, in war zones, these compounds have to worry about complex coordinated attacks.  In Afghanistan, you see attacks using suicide bombers or VBIEDs, followed by ground assault forces.  The compound defense force must be organized and well armed to deal with all and any situations.  That force must have outstanding leadership and discipline, or you will be in trouble.  It is all about leadership, and the leaders at these U. N. outposts must demand that proper security be put in place to protect their people.  They cannot depend on good faith or luck to protect their most vital assets. –Matt

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EXCLUSIVE: Staffers deemed unsafe at 20 U.N. outposts

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Betsy Pisik

UNITED NATIONS | At least 20 U.N. outposts in dangerous corners of the world suffer from inadequate security despite rising threats to the organization, the U.N. director of security says.

Gregory B. Starr, a former State Department security specialist named as U.N. security coordinator a little more than three months ago, cited U.N. offices in Iraq and Afghanistan for particular concern.

He also classified outposts in Somalia, Sudan’s Darfur region, the Palestinian territories and Lebanon as dangerous spots for U.N. international and local staff.

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