Posted on 05/10/2003 10:39:53 AM PDT by FairOpinion
A United Nations official has warned that the town of Bunia in north-eastern DR Congo is on the verge of an "humanitarian catastrophe".
Since the departure of Ugandan troops this week - part of an international peace deal for the DRC - Lendu and Hema militias have been battling for control of the town.
Head of UN peacekeeping operations Jean-Marie Guehenno has warned Security Council members of the ongoing bloodshed in the region.
The council said it would meet again on Monday to discuss "effective measures to stop the violence".
Food shortages
About 500 UN peacekeeping troops in Bunia have been trying to protect civilians from the fighting, but have themselves come under attack.
On Friday, two UN compounds were surrounded by angry crowds and then fired on.
The BBC's Mark Dummett, reporting from Kinshasa, says people are unhappy the UN is not doing more to protect them.
The number of victims is unknown, although bodies have been seen lying in the streets, says our correspondent.
Aid workers say the three days of fighting and looting have destroyed Bunia's food stocks and that water and medicines are also running out.
Meanwhile, authorities in neighbouring Uganda say tens of thousands of refugees have fled across the border and have asked for international assistance.
Since 1999, more than 50,000 people are estimated to have been killed and half a million displaced by unrest in Ituri region.
On Friday, a plane carrying the Congolese Human Rights Minister, Ntumba Luaba, was hit by gunfire near the town's airport, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing.
Gee, I wonder why don't we want to hand over Iraq to the UN? (/sarcasm)
"This is a very small book with very large aspirations. As a display of intellectual panache, it is also unmistakably European-the literary equivalent of a sleek fashion model gliding down the runway in Paris or Milan: thin, elegant, insouciant, slightly world-weary, and quite without visible means of support."
"Unencumbered by evidence, data, or corroboration, The End of the Nation-State is an exercise in Big Think. The stated aim of Jean- Marie Guehenno, a senior member of the French diplomatic corps, is to divine the zeitgeist of the new age emerging from the political and cultural upheaval revealed by the end of the Cold War."
Need we say more? Yes, we must, but I'll leave it to another FReeper to point out the equivalent of looting, occupying troops under fire, etc. The shoe is truly on the other foot now. Let's see what comes of it.
And finally, with the situation out of control, the Security Council takes the weekend off.
US out of the UN; UN out of the US.
Scenes right out of "Atlas Shrugged" here... get rid of the looting UN!
The UN is an organization dedicated to world peace and humanitarian aid through the cooperation of the member states
Horse-Pucky!!
The UN is forum in which mostly dicatorial nations have demanded and recieved a democratic voice in world politics while denying that same voice to their citizens.
The UN is a "shakedown" operation run by criminals and thugs. They demand a piece of the Iraq pie when they were unwilling to lend their voice in the overthrow of a brutal dictator.
Was it really about the Oil? Well, for the UN ("OIL for Food" program),France and Russia (Huge Oil Contracts) it seems that it was.
No, but I do keep a list of UN successes (see below)
1.
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