The DRC -- An Ongoing Crisis

As a spokesperson for Oxfam - one of the world`s biggest humanitarian agencies - I am reminded every day of how fortunate I am to be living in a - reasonably - safe place, New York city. I read, discuss in incessant phone conferences and attempt to bring to the world media some of the world`s biggest humanitarian crises. From Darfur to Afghanistan, advocating the plight of millions of less fortunate people and bringing their stories alive is my daily mission.

For this year`s holiday break, as I pause for a little while, I am still fixated on one crisis: the conflict and humanitarian disaster still unfolding in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The DRC is home of an ongoing civil war that has cost the lives, mostly civilian ones, to more than 5 million people since 1998. Bitter infighting has been fuelled by the Congo's vast mineral resources and by the flow of small arms into the country.

Are things improving lately after more than 10 years of conflict? Well not really.

250,000 people have been forced to flee their homes since late August 2008 as a result of intense fighting between the forces of rebel general Laurent Nkunda and Congolese army soldiers and their allied militia. People have dispersed over a vast, inhospitable area without access to shelter, water, food, and medicines.

The fighting has severely hampered the ability of aid agencies to reach those in need.

Oxfam has insisted that the situation in North Kivu has been deteriorating dramatically for civilians in recent months and that something ought to be done urgently to foster the protection for the thousands of civilians stuck in this never-ending conflict.

So earlier this week, the UN Security Council adopted unanimously a resolution that revised the mandate of U.N. peacekeepers to focus on the crisis in the eastern provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu. The force, known as MONUC, is authorized to have 22,000 soldiers and police.

Oxfam and the people of Congo`s call for prioritization of this "protection mandate" has been answered.

However, strong words on a piece of paper are not enough.

Successful implementation of this mandate depends on peacekeepers having sufficient resources and effective management and leadership, including clear plans for the mandate's application. This is not the case at the moment.

What this means is that the UN must now ensure a realistic fit between the scope of the new mandate and the resources supplied to implement it. It also means that the mission in the DRC must be managed in such a way that protection "performance" is given primacy and all levels in the chain of command are held accountable for their demonstrated impact on civilian safety. In other words, UN peacekeepers must perform, must be protecting civilians and be seen to be doing just that.

Effective leadership will also be needed in managing the relationship between MONUC and the Congolese Army, particularly when it comes to monitoring negotiated arrangements for ceasefire and disengagement.

Along with being led, all troop contingents must have both the equipment - such as basic night vision equipment which they lack at the moment - and the training and practical guidance which will allow them to fulfill their civilian protection mandate consistently.

People caught up in this tragedy tell us that they cannot understand why the world's biggest UN peacekeeping force is doing so little to help them. They are at the mercy of armed groups on all sides and offered little protection from rape, murder and abduction.

It's time for UN peacekeepers to be led and given all the means to stop this madness.