The United Nations Mission in Congo or the exemplary uselessness of the United Nations peacekeepers
During the M23 conflict in 2012-2013 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the United Nations (UN) took the diplomatic initiative (by initiating the Addis Ababa agreement) and the military initiative (by launching a coordinated counter-offensive with the Congolese army). Since the resurgence of this conflict in 2022, the United Nations, which still has more than 10,000 peacekeepers deployed in eastern DRC, no longer plays any role.
Not only did the UN leave the tasks of mediation and interposition to African actors, but they initiated the withdrawal of their peacekeeping mission as the conflict intensified. The modest supporting role assigned to it in 2024 is now called into question by the intensification of fighting.
This paper analyzes the paradox of the presence-absence of the UN in the M23 conflict. With the fall of Goma on January 27, United Nations Organization Mission in Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) now finds itself literally and figuratively trapped by this conflict. This dramatic case illustrates the obsolescence of the UN in the new international disorder.
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The United Nations Mission in Congo or the exemplary uselessness of the United Nations peacekeepers
Author(s)
Thierry VIRCOULON
Associate Research Fellow, Coordinator of the Observatory of Central and Southern Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa Center, Ifri
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