The United Nations and the Suffering of Congolese Civilians

The United Nations group of experts recently published their final report of the group of experts (PDF). They have been issuing reports on the Congo Crisis for the last decade. This report (PDF) is the latest in a series of reports published on the on-going conflict in the Congo and should be read as such, as opposed to the manner in which some misguided Think Tanks and media outlets have interpreted the report (PDF). A classic case of the misguided reading has been spurious reports that the “first” American company has been identified as participating in the trade of so-called conflict minerals. The fact of the matter is the United Nations has done a plethora of studies since 2001 identifying US companies that have contributed to the fueling of the conflict in the Congo. See a list of Western Companies involved in Congo since the 1996 invasion by US allies Rwanda and Uganda.

Human Rights Watch also published a recent report, which assessed the joint operations between the Congolese military and the United Nations forces. As expected the report was critical of the joint operations and recommended that the United Nations end its support of the military operations.
Read HRW Press Release
Read HRW full report