U.N. forces in 'heavy fighting' in Congo
17,000 U.N. troops are involved with local forces in heavy fighting to try to take a town. And this is peacekeeping?
This is part of the reason U.S. troops haven't been sent to Sudan. Peacekeeping can quickly turn into peace making. That's a whole different thing. You can't keep the peace if there is none; Peacekeepers are supposed to deter violence by their mere existence. Getting involved in the violence is something different altogether, yet it's often arguabley inevitable. Diplomats and lawyers go blind writing out the rules of engagement, but they may or may not mean much to the 18-year-old U.N. or U.S. soldier who's watching an execution.
Sticky wicket.
Eh, I suppose peacekeeping is OK, just as long as there's no "mission creep" leading to nation-building. I'm not sure I agree, however, with what a certain person said in 2000: "And so I don't think our troops ought to be used for what's called nation-building." Sorry, that's another subject.
This is part of the reason U.S. troops haven't been sent to Sudan. Peacekeeping can quickly turn into peace making. That's a whole different thing. You can't keep the peace if there is none; Peacekeepers are supposed to deter violence by their mere existence. Getting involved in the violence is something different altogether, yet it's often arguabley inevitable. Diplomats and lawyers go blind writing out the rules of engagement, but they may or may not mean much to the 18-year-old U.N. or U.S. soldier who's watching an execution.
Sticky wicket.
Eh, I suppose peacekeeping is OK, just as long as there's no "mission creep" leading to nation-building. I'm not sure I agree, however, with what a certain person said in 2000: "And so I don't think our troops ought to be used for what's called nation-building." Sorry, that's another subject.
posted by bp at
8:24 AM
2 Comments:
Thanks for the story - this is an interesting piece of info. Plan to take it to the table in an International Law and the Use of Force seminar I've been taking.
By
t'su, at 4:02 PM
I'm glad to hear it. It's a tough situation, tough type of law. It's hard to use soldiers to stop violence in a country without occupying it, waging war, and taking total control. Bosnia seems to be a pretty good example, and perhaps the exception.
By
bp, at 7:46 PM
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