A peacekeeper sits on the back of a truck as a United Nations aid convoy escorted by U.N. peacekeepers travels to the eastern town of Rutshuru November 3, 2008.(Les Neuhaus/Reuters)
France Urges U.N. Congo Peacekeepers To
Get Tough -- Yahoo News/Reuters
Get Tough -- Yahoo News/Reuters
RUTSHURU, Congo (Reuters) – France called on Monday for United Nations peacekeepers in east Congo to be tougher in protecting civilians from violence, while aid workers searched for tens of thousands of people who have fled recent fighting.
A U.N. aid convoy which traveled to a rebel-held zone in Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province found refugee camps there empty, their occupants vanished into the bush.
Relief workers escorted by U.N. troops drove to the eastern town of Rutshuru, captured by Tutsi rebels last week. They found camps previously run by U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, and housing at least 50,000 people, leveled and deserted.
"All the camps are empty. They have all left. All the shelters have been destroyed. Nothing remains," U.N. humanitarian officer Francis Nakwafio Kasai told Reuters.
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My Comment: Complaining will not improve the U.N.'s military performance in Africa. But the French have a different point of view.
