There have been a slew of articles recently posted in the NYTimes about the Rwanda, Uganda, DRC triangle of genocide, rape, and general violence. It caused quite a stir.
It all started with a UN report on possible cases of genocide committed by Rwandan rebels; the report itself was altered after Uganda threatened to pull its peace keepers in response to how the country was also mentioned. The first report was dead-on. It explained why the UN's peace keepers are ineffective in the DRC and why they cannot prevent genocide, rape, and general violence.
These articles stand in stark contrast to the not insubstantial peace keeping success in such former violence-riddled countries as Liberia. With positive coverage, for example how the MDGs are progressing, the UN has not suffered much Nasa effect, where only failures are printed. But, I guess I want to ask what the expectation is with regard to peace?
While on an intellectual level I agree with the excuses: women don't confess to male peace keepers about being raped, information does not travel fast enough in the bush to arrest rape gangs before they act, and new gangs commit unpredictable acts of genocide and rape on a whim to win concessions from government bodies, I expect more. I expect more because the UN has implemented successful all-female police units in countries with high crime, high rape gang statistics. Cell phone technology is ubiquitous and is leveraged in remarkably rural settings for simple communication such as ordering medication. Lastly, this really isn't a shock. We know what's going on, at least to the extent where and how the instability is manifesting itself. Even Economists agree on individual country's peace index.
What do you think?
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