26 07 13 BBC: DR Congo unrest: Fears over UN intervention

A special 3,000-strong UN
"Intervention Brigade" has been mandated to mount offensive
operations against rebel groups in DR Congo.

It has already begun some
patrols.

The UN says a robust
response to the unrest is necessary

US Secretary of State
John Kerry is due to chair a UN Security Council debate on DR Congo later on
Thursday.

UN dilemma

US-based aid advocacy
group Refugees International urged Mr Kerry to recognise that: "Unless
certain safeguards are imposed, military action by the Intervention Brigade
could further exacerbate DR Congo's humanitarian crisis."

The UN says more than 2.5
million people have been made homeless by the conflicts in the DR Congo – most
of them in the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu.

Medical charity Medecins
Sans Frontieres earlier said it was very concerned about a blurring of the
distinction between the UN's humanitarian and military work.

Because of the potential
confusion between those roles, MSF said it no longer wanted any military –
including UN soldiers – deployed near its health facilities.

There was a real danger,
MSF said, that heightened tension could lead to a targeting of medical
activities.

The criticisms by aid
agencies illustrate a classic dilemma for the UN.

It is damned if it does
not act firmly enough, as when rebels of the ethnic Tutsi-dominated M23
movement took the eastern DR Congo city of Goma last year.

But it is also damned
when it takes tougher action that has humanitarian fallout.

The UN operation in DR
Congo is already the largest UN military mission in the world. Its main mandate
is the protection of civilians.

But the huge number of
people made homeless by the many conflicts in DR Congo – mainly in the east but
also in Katanga Province
in the south and Orientale
Province in the north –
clearly show that the UN has not always succeeded in shielding people from the
worst of the war.

So in March the UN
Security Council tried a new tactic and passed a resolution creating the
Intervention Brigade.

According to the official
UN News Service the Brigade is mandated "to carry out targeted offensive
operations, with or without the Congolese national army, against armed groups
that threaten peace in eastern DR Congo".

The Brigade is tasked
with "neutralising" armed groups, the UN said.

It is commanded by Tanzanian
Brigadier General James Mwakibolwa.

"The Intervention
Brigade is very positive", he said.

"It should be
understood that our first concern should be the protection of civilians as we
take on the armed groups."