On Monday 25/08/2022, residents in the eastern town of Beni in the Democratic Republic of Congo stormed the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (UN-MONUSCO) offices protesting the UN mission’s failure to protect their lives.
Comment:
Since 1999, the United Nations through Security Council Resolution 1279 formed the peace keeping force to monitor the peace process of the Congo DRC second war. The mission was known as the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC-Mission de l’Organisation des Nations Unies en République démocratique du Congo).
In July 2010, MONUSCO, which is United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, took over and replaced MONUC to date.
Being the so called the largest UN peacekeeping missions in the Congo DRC, both MONUC and MONUSCO have the highest rates of sexual exploitation and abuse being perpetrated to children and women. It has been reported in one case that a sixteen-year-old girl got raped by five ‘peacekeepers’ while gathering food (Shirin Bakhti, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by UN Peacekeepers, 2019). How evil are these people!
Apart from rape by the UN peacekeepers in Congo DRC which has made the country to be nicknamed a “rape city”. Peacekeepers in Congo are also involving in sex trade and sexual violence with Congolese girls and Women. According to international non-governmental organization of ‘Save the Children’, in its 2008 report named “No one Turn To”, confirmed that children as young as six are trading sex with aid workers and peacekeepers in exchange for food, money and petty stuff. A total number of 623 allegations of sex exploitation and abuse against MONUSCC were established between the years 2004-2009 only.
It is clear that the UN peacekeepers are taking advantage of the poverty and destitute situation in Congo. Shamelessly, the UN mission staff, instead of proper undertaking their duty of peace keeping, are indulging in sexual violence by luring and bribing innocent girls as young as six years old with money and other basic needs like food, clothes, etc.
Furthermore, the United Nations peacekeepers have been reported killing innocent civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2013. While the current protest, more than 15 civilians have been killed and 50 wounded.
The missions that are expected to protect civilians and safeguard their welfare are killing them instead. Civilians are complaining and raising their concern on failure of the forces not to fulfill their duties; instead they have been participating in raping, looting, and even killing them.
The conflict in Congo DRC is between European nations especially Britain against America over Congo’s abundant resources including gold and diamond. While America is using Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi which are ruled by the Tutsi tribesmen backed by America, Britain is using some southern African countries loyal to it like Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa to check on America’s movements.
The so-called UN peacekeepers have done nothing to help and vitalize peace process in Congo and in the real sense their presence is not for that particular purposes. Their main functions are to protect colonial Western capitalist masters’ interests and investments, making sure they are swiftly and freely exploiting Congo DRC huge wealth of resources. So, it should not be anticipated for these barbaric armed gangs in the name of “peacekeepers” to bring any peace in Congo or elsewhere since they are part of the problem.
In order to bring peace, and help the people of Congo DRC, Africa and developing nations as whole, we need to radically uproot capitalism and re-establish the Khilafah (Caliphate) state which will protect Muslims and the whole world against all sorts of exploitation and oppression.
Allah (swt) says:
[يَهْدِي بِهِ اللَّهُ مَنِ اتَّبَعَ رِضْوَانَهُ سُبُلَ السَّلَامِ وَيُخْرِجُهُم مِّنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ بِإِذْنِهِ وَيَهْدِيهِمْ إِلَى صِرَاطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ]
“with it Allah guides those who follow His pleasure to the pathways of peace, and brings them out, by His will, from the depths of darkness into the light, and guides them to a straight path.” [TMQ Surah al-Maida 5:16].
Said Bitomwa
Member of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Tanzania