Topic:
Country: United Arab Emirates
Delegate Name: Connor Argenzio
United Nations Security Council
MONUSCO
United Arab Emirates
Connor Argenzio, Forest Hills Northern High School
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and even Africa as a whole, has been plagued by incessant conflict and instability since the cessation of Western colonialism. It all began in Rwanda when the ethnic conflict between the Tutsis and Hutus led to the Rwandan genocide, in which Hutu forces carried out efforts to eradicate the Tutsis. After the worst events of the conflict had subsided, some Hutu groups fled to the neighboring DRC. These Hutu emigrants formulated plans to retake Rwanda, which incurred retaliation from the Rwandan government in the form of subversive support for the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL). The AFDL, with the support of various countries, initiated a successful rebellion and supplanted Mobutu with Lauren-Désiré Kabila. Fittingly, the backing countries soon became dissatisfied with the AFDL and backed the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD). These successive insurrections have laid the groundwork for near-constant conflict in the eastern DRC. The international community, not being one to let things be, quickly mobilized peacekeeping forces in the Congo under the MONUC mission. Of course, this UN mission pathetically failed in its mission, like all before it. Not having anything else to do, the mission was renamed MONUSCO and given a greater amount of latitude to assist the Kinshasa regime. Unsurprisingly, MONUSCO would fail like its predecessor and lead to reductions in UN forces present in the Congo.
The UAE is an Islamic state; however, it will not allow the ties of religion to hinder its judgment when addressing the Congo crisis. Independently of all this, the UAE has begun to work with the DRC to facilitate the trade of gold and eliminate illicit gold. This partnership is mutually beneficial, and in addition to the UAE’s insistence on national sovereignty, the UAE sees no reason to oppose the present regime despite its apparent faults.
Ultimately, the UN has demonstrated itself to be supremely incompetent when dealing with matters of even moderate gravity. Thus the UAE has begun to wonder why the world trusts the UNSC to handle issues as delicate as the Congo crisis. If the citizens of the Congo can see through the pathetic charade that is the MONUSCO mission, then so should the rest of the world. While no clear solution to the Congo crisis is evident nor likely exists, what is clear is the ineptitude of MONUSCO. Any assistance provided by MONUSCO is greatly outweighed by its damage. The only thing the UNSC can do to assuage the Congo crisis is to withdraw all UN forces from the Congo at once.
