15 07 13 Reuters: U.N. pens deal for unarmed surveillance drones over Congo

U.N. peacekeeping chief
Herve Ladsous, in Paris to attend France's Independence Day celebrations, told
Reuters a deal signed on Friday with an unnamed company would allow for a
"complete picture of what is happening" on the ground.

Thick forests, rugged
terrain and few roads have complicated peacekeepers' efforts to control the
area.

"We have just signed
a commercial contract for the UAVs, and I say UAVs, not drones, as they are
unarmed," Ladsous said, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles.

"This is a major
innovation. For the first time the U.N. is going into state-of-the-art,
21st-century technology."

U.N. peacekeeping troops
have been in eastern Congo
for more than a decade, and the MONUSCO force is currently 17,000 strong – the
largest U.N. force in the world.

But the complex conflict
has dragged on, killing millions through violence, famine and disease since the
1990s. That has led the U.N. to create a new "intervention brigade" –
part of the MONUSCO force but charged with the task of not merely peacekeeping
but taking proactive steps against rebel groups.

It has already begun
patrolling and is approaching full strength, Ladsous said.

Most peacekeepers from Tanzania and South
Africa are already in place, and those from Malawi are
expected to be deployed at the end of July or early August to complete the
3,000-strong force, he said.

Ladsous defended the
brigade's mission to take a more active approach to neutralizing rebel groups.
U.N. peacekeeping principles stipulate impartiality and "non-use of force
except in self-defense and defense of the mandate".

"Neutrality,
impartiality: that is the case for classic peacekeeping," said Ladsous.

"How can you be
neutral or impartial to those terrible armed groups who have been for years
now, a decade or more, killing civilians, raping women, recruiting child
soldiers? No, you cannot be neutral."

Congo has been afflicted by an insurgency by M23 rebels in its border area
with Rwanda and Uganda in the last year, and U.N. experts
accused Rwanda
of sending troops and weapons across the border to support the M23. Rwanda denies
the accusation.

DEAL WITH FRENCH IN MALI

Ladsous also said French
armed forces had signed a deal with the United Nations on Saturday to protect
U.N. peacekeepers against terrorism attacks in Mali,
where France intervened in
January to stop al Qaeda-linked militants from overrunning the West African
nation.

Paris hopes to pull back its force of
3,500 soldiers to 1,000 by the year's end and wants to hand over most security
responsibilities to the United Nations as the country prepares for elections on
July 28.

Although the bulk of the
French military effort is over, sporadic attacks by Islamist rebels still occur.
Two French soldiers were wounded last month.

"In case we face a
very difficult situation, a very dangerous one, then we will ask them to
support us," Ladsous said.

"Let's face it, it
does provide politically and psychologically, deterrent-wise also, a very
strong reassurance and comfort."

Deployed on July 1, the
U.N.'s mission in Mali,
involving 12,600 soldiers and police, will be responsible for traditional
policing, allowing French forces to concentrate on counter-terrorism efforts
and peace enforcement.

A U.N. report last month
called the situation in Mali
precarious and said African troops were not properly equipped.