UN Peace Keeping in Congo and India
 

By: Dr. Seema Shekhawat *      

The Indian contingent in the United Nations Peace-Keeping Force (UNPKF) in Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly known as Zaire) has been subject to accusations of ‘thirst for gold’, ‘arms for ivory’ in a BBC news programme titled Panorama in the last week of April 2008. It is for the first time that such accusations were levelled against the Indian army contingent. The 18-month long BBC study into the conduct of the 17,000 strong peacekeepers allegedly found that UN troops have been involved in arming militia groups and smuggling gold and ivory. This revelation comes just three years after it emerged that UN peacekeepers had perpetrated widespread abuse of refugees in the war-torn country. The allegations are hugely embarrassing for the UN, and also for the parent country of the peacekeepers. Though the UN has not fully corroborated the BBC findings and its under secretary has called the findings partial, the news reports have raised hackles in the Indian establishment with Indian defence minister promising strong actions against the culprits, if proved. The episode has also again brought to the light the misdemeanours of the UNPKF thus raising alarms in the UN.

The Background

Though the term peacekeeping is not mentioned in the UN Charter the international organization has taken this task as a responsibility towards maintaining international peace and security. Peacekeeping refers to “the deployment of a United Nations presence in the field, hitherto with the consent of all the parties concerned, normally involving United Nations military and/or police personnel and frequently civilians as well.”1 It is considered as an important humanitarian global gesture wherein the UN forces, borrowed from armies of member states, under the flag of UN, play significant roles in the management and resolution of the conflicts.2

Peacekeeping missions involve multiple tasks ranging from protecting civilians to promoting human security; assisting in the demobilisation of former combatants to restoration of the rule of law; from providing training to military officials of the respective country to promoting human rights; from providing humanitarian relief to promoting developmental reconstruction. These multiple tasks put huge responsibility on the peacekeepers. Another important point is that the peacekeepers, besides representing the parent country, also represent international community in a trouble torn region wherein they work under the flag of UN flag.

UN peacekeeping missions have received appreciation worldwide though incidents like the recent Congolese episode earn ill repute for these operations. The peacekeepers have come under scrutiny on several occasions for being involved in activities in stark contrast to their mandate. In recent years, there have been growing instances of peacekeepers committing severe crimes ranging from sexual misconduct3 to promoting sexually transmitted disease including AIDS; increase in prostitution to increase in corruption etc., thus severely damaging the credibility of not only the UN but also the parent country. Peacekeepers from countries of Belgium, Canada, Italy and Pakistan have already been implicated in inhuman acts against civilians in many African peacekeeping missions.4

India and UNPKF

As Africa remains embroiled in protracted conflicts, the international community has become increasingly involved in peace efforts to resolve those conflicts. The UN, the largest world body representing the voice of the international community, continues to be a traditional as well as key player in this direction. It can be mentioned here that the African continent is currently having UN peacekeeping forces in six countries. They include the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), the UN Mission in Côte d’Ivoire (MINUCI), the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) and the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) and the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC).

India has been one of the main contributors to the UN missions in maintenance of international peace globally including in Africa. India in the pursuit of its traditional policy of peace and non-violence has contributed to the peacekeeping efforts of the UN since it participated in the UN efforts in Korea in 1953-1954. It has demonstrated its unique capacity of sustaining large troop commitments over prolonged periods. Presently, India is ranked as the second largest troop contributor to the UN. The large scale participation of Indian troops in UN peace keeping missions has positively contributed to its’ global political image. Indian forces have earned international acclaim for India as well as UN by contributing significantly to the peace keeping.

Besides Korea, India also contributed to peace in the West Asia. The United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) was created in 1956 following cessation of hostilities between Egypt and Israel. India provided an infantry battalion that accounted for the bulk of the UN force. Over 11 years, from 1956 to 1967, more than 12,000 Indian troops took part in UNEF. India was the Chairman of the International Control Commission (ICC) for Indo-China, set up in 1954 to implement the ceasefire agreement between Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and France.

India provided military observers to Military Observer Group to monitor the situation on Iran-Iraq border during the period 1988-90. Following the end of the Gulf War, the UN established the Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission (UNIKOM) wherein Indian observers continue to participate in the operation. India also provided a large contingent to peacekeeping operation in Mozambique and Cambodia. The UN operation in Namibia, wherein Indian military observers shouldered the responsibility for the smooth withdrawal of foreign troops, elections and subsequent handing over of the authority to the elected representatives, is considered one of the success stories in the history of UN peacekeeping missions. So far, India has taken part in 41 peacekeeping missions with more than 70,000 troops all over the world. As many as 90 Indian soldiers have died while serving in UN peacekeeping operations.

India also continues to play a key role in maintenance of international peace by providing training to military officers from different countries. It has also offered diverse courses to military personnel of many countries at various military training institutions across the country.5 This includes military personnel from Bangladesh, Bhutan, France, Germany, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, Thailand, UAE, UK, USA, Vietnam, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Cadets from countries such as Maldives, Palestine, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and also many African States receive pre-commission training at the National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla and the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun.

The Congo Case

India has played an important role in peacekeeping operations in Congo. The UN operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, ONUC upheld the national unity and territorial integrity of the Congo, Africa’s third largest nation stretching from the Atlantic coast in the west to the Great Lakes region in the eastern part of the continent. The Indian contingent lost 39 men in action in the Congo in the early 1960s. Of late, the country emerged in 2003 from what became known as ‘Africa’s first world war’, in which troops from around half a dozen African countries were involved in a violent conflict. MONUC (the French acronym for the UN Mission in Congo) was constituted in 1999 under a UN Security Council resolution to contain the crisis. It can be mentioned here that MONUC is the largest and most expensive of all UN peacekeeping missions. It has more than 16,000 troops from 18 nations, with India and Pakistan the leading troop contributors.

The UN operation in the Congo is the costliest in the world, costing over a billion dollars every year. The huge cost of the operation in a sensitive zone has also occasionally given rise to corruption charges against the peacekeepers. A significant amount of the money goes to the local UN procurement unit, which is at the centre of one of UN’s most serious corruption scandals. An internal UN report - obtained by the BBC - reveals ‘widespread and inherent corruption’ pervading the procurement department in Kinshasa, the capital of Congo. The report concludes that just one of the officials under investigation had caused the UN losses that could ‘be conservatively estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands of United States dollars.’

Besides charges of corruption, the peacekeeping forces in Congo have also been accused of sexual violence. From December 2004 to August 2006, around 140 allegations of sexual exploitation involving UN personnel were recorded in Congo.6 However, Indian troops remained free of any charges till recent times.

‘Thirst for Gold’ and ‘Arms for Ivory’?

The analysis of the BBC report generated controversy points that there are mainly five accusations involving Indian troops in the UNPKF in Congo. They are:

1. The illegal purchase of gold from rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) - the former Rwandan army that fled to Congo following their involvement in the Rwanda genocide of 1994.
    

2. The use of a UN helicopter to fly into the Virunga national park to exchange ammunition for ivory with the rebels
    

3. The exchanging with the rebels of UN rations for gold
    

4. The buying of drugs from the rebels
    

5. The failure to support the disarmament of this rebel group.
    

Reportedly, the BBC spoke to several eyewitnesses in Mongbwalu who said they had seen the Front Nationalist and Integrationist (FNI) re-armed. The FNI leaders known as ‘Kung-fu’ and ‘Dragon’, who are jailed in Kinshasa, have corroborated the BBC reports. Kung Fu, whose real name is General Mateso Ninga said: “Yes, it's true, they did give us arms. They said it was for the security of the country. So they said to us that we would help them take care of the zone … The FNI commanders took a vehicle to meet and negotiate with one of the Pakistani officers.” He further said “They went in and came back with seven boxes of ammunition. After receiving these boxes, all the militia - including my young brothers - took their arms to go and attack the Congolese army.”7 The controversy acquired wider dimension in view of the fact that Uganda on 29 April 2008 has accused the UN peacekeepers in Congo of supplying arms to a dormant rebel group that is re-grouping in the troubled central African state. Kampala accuses the Allied Democratic Front of Uganda (ADF) -- a dormant rebel movement hiding in eastern Congo -- of recruiting and re-arming to destabilise Yoweri Museveni’s government. ADF emerged as a localised movement in western Uganda’s Ruwenzori mountain range in 1996, but were finally defeated and chased across the border in 2004. “They (ADF members) come quietly and take people from the eastern DRC and western Uganda to go and train in the eastern Congo. They are building forces there and we are very much aware,” observed the Ugandan Defence Minister, Kiyonga.

The BBC had reported corrupt practices by Pakistani peacekeepers in Congo in 2007, which was strongly rejected by Pakistan authorities. The BBC alleged that the trafficking began in 2005 and cited witnesses who described secret negotiations between Pakistani blue helmets and FNI militia commanders in Mongwalu. In May 2007 the military spokesman of Pakistan, Maj Gen Waheed Arshad, said the reports were ‘not only malicious but misleading and distorted’ and without evidence. He also argued that the BBC was wrong to rely on the evidence of Mateso Ninga, a ‘criminal in the prison.’ The UN’s own report, on 2 July 2007 concludes that the Pakistani contingent in Mongbwalu did indeed trade in gold with a group of Indian traders based in East Africa. The UN goes on to hold just one Pakistani army officer responsible for what took place. It is hard to believe, the BBC argues, that one single officer, based in an isolated Congolese village, could organise a trade involving an estimated $7m in gold passing through four countries. The BBC has claimed that while investigating the involvement of Pakistani forces in illegal activities claim they came across a UN document charging Indian peace keepers of illegal activities. This revelation by the premier new agency has raised suspicions over the credibility of Indian peace keepers in Congo.

Evidence or Lack of it?

The UN officials said there was no evidence for many of the allegations aired on BBC’s Panorama programme. They pointed out that the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) had followed up every allegation against peacekeepers but had been unable to substantiate most of them. The only substantiated case was that of the three peace keepers from India, including a Lt. Colonel, who had brought wrought gold from a dealer at fire-sale prices. When the gold later turned out to be fake they traced down the dealer and detained him at their battalion headquarters. The purveyor of wrought gold later turned out to be having links with the rebels. The UN has promised action against the three, adding that despite being involved in UN peacekeeping missions for over five decades, no charge of molestation or rape had ever been substantiated against Indian army troopers.

The UN deputy spokesperson, Marie Okabe, stated that, “much of the new information presented by the BBC report is either hearsay or comes from sources, such as the militia leaders, whose integrity and motivation are highly questionable as they themselves were arrested and put in prison by the peacekeepers.”8 The allegations of gold trafficking concerned three individuals. One has to be careful not to smear the whole country’s (India’s) contingent or the UN as a whole on a basis of individuals’ actions. In May 2007, MONUC announced an investigation into possible trafficking in gold and arms by peacekeepers deployed in 2005 in Ituri. After the internal probe the UN demanded Pakistani authorities punish the soldiers implicated in the case, including the commander, according to a 15 April 2008 letter to the BBC from Jean-Marie Guehenno, Chief of UN operations.

Concerns were first raised within the UN about Indian troop activities in eastern Congo in July 2007. After discussions between the UN and India, it was agreed that a UN investigation team would “determine whether the allegations are credible and require full investigation by India and the United Nations.”9 The initial UN investigation says there is sufficient evidence to take action against three named Indian peacekeepers over attempts to trade in gold and the unlawful detention of one of the traders. It says that there is insufficient evidence to act against Indian peacekeepers over the other allegations. The UN has called India ‘to consider other avenues of inquiry, which fall outside the purviews of the (UN’s Investigation Division) investigations,’ if it wishes so. In a response to the allegations, the Indian High Commission in London told the BBC that the allegations over trading in gold were a ‘trivial case’ and that the three soldiers concerned were being investigated. Disciplinary action would be taken against them once they are found guilty upon investigation. The Indian defence ministry has taken the same standpoint.

Conclusion

It may be farfetched to accuse the whole Indian contingent or even the Pakistani contingent for the trafficking in Congo. It may be possible that a few individuals are involved in the crime as the initial UN reports suggest. Even the cases related to the few individuals need to be corroborated with impartial probe, without any distortion or bias. In its record of the past fifty years it is for the first time that allegations of such grave nature have been raised against an Indian contingent. The inordinate hype by the BBC in highlighting the Indian excesses might have irked the Indian establishment as it is blown out of proportion thus causing the possibility of damaging the credibility and integrity of the Indian army. However, it may serve as well as an alarm against future trafficking and misuse of UNPKF missions for personal gains. As promised by the Indian Defence Minister, A. K. Antony, India must insist on a thorough probe of the case and take actions against the guilty, if any, stringently. At stake is not only the reputation of India or the UN but humanity. The larger question the Congo episode has raised is: whether those assigned the noble task of serving the humanity by participating in peace efforts in a conflict situation become the real protectors of human values or mere greedy and selfish traders and promoters of violence? In coming days the Congolese episode would likely open a Pandora’s Box about the real functioning of the UN peacekeeping operations, and which it should, so that the vulnerable human situations are not exploited for selfish gains.

* Dr. Seema Shekhawat is currently associated with Centre for African Studies, University of Mumbai.