The recent approval by the UN Security Council of two extraordinary measures to deal with the situation in that country--the use of drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to provide reconnaissance of militia activity, and the deployment of an intervention brigade to take offensive measures against the militia groups--is being hailed by most observers as a potential turning point in the country's recent unhappy history. Though the UN has been careful to present the measures as purely temporary and confined to the DRC, they do indeed constitute a turning point in UN peace missions. Their success--if they do succeed--will undoubtedly lead to their being hailed as "best practice," and radically change the hopeless trajectory of the Congo.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the measures as a "comprehensive approach aimed at addressing the root causes of instability in the eastern DRC and the Great Lakes region." But optimism has necessarily to be tempered, analysts believe.The February 24, 2013 "Framework for Peace, Security and Cooperation for the DRC and the Region," which provides the basis for the intervention brigade, does indeed offer a comprehensive approach to the problem.The framework, which the African Union assisted to put together, was signed in Ethiopia by leaders from the DRC, Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, in the presence of Ban, who acted as one of the guarantors. The framework speaks of the suffering in the country engendered by "recurring cycles of conflict and persistent violence by armed groups, both Congolese and foreign."
