The Promise of Peace: UNSC Resolutions 2098 and 2147 and the Protection of Congolese Civilians

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  • February 26, 2019
Creator
  • Allyn, Danielle N.
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Curriculum in Global Studies
Abstract
  • The United Nations Stabilization Mission in the DR Congo (MONUSCO) boasts a fourteen-year presence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (hereafter, the DRC, the DR Congo, or “Congo”). The lives of many civilians in eastern Congo remain punctuated by episodes of violence and instability, often at the hands of foreign and Congolese rebel militias and, at times, as a result of human rights abuses by the Congolese police force (PNC) and military (Cakaj 2010, Oxfam 2014). The Rwandan genocide of 1994 and the exodus of Rwandan genocidaires into neighboring DRC served as a catalyst for Congo’s current instability (Nzongola 2014, BBC 2014). Though not the sole determinant of contemporary violence, the Rwandan refugee crisis exacerbated existing tensions in the Congo. In response to a mushrooming humanitarian crisis and international violation of Congolese sovereignty on the part of rebel militias the United Nations (UN) authorized the UN Organization Mission in the DR Congo (MONUC) in 2000. Throughout Congo’s contemporary history, a complex web of armed groups relied on local and regional political, economic, and military support to advance their aims in the country’s eastern regions, often with grave consequences for Congolese civilians (Bafilemba and Mueller 2013). In 2010 the mission changed its name to the UN Stabilization Mission in the DR Congo (MONUSCO) to reflect its objectives: “protect, stabilize, and consolidate peace” (MONUSCO at a Glance 2014). In the spring of 2013, the UN Security Council (UNSC) significantly enhanced MONUSCO’s offensive capacity through issuing UNSC Resolution 2098, which created a Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) charged with proactively neutralizing armed groups in eastern Congo. The resolution also identified civilian protection as the highest mission priority and granted MONUSCO the authority to use drone technology to monitor human rights abuses(UNSC 2013). This thesis surveys MONUSCO’s civilian protection capacity as observed in June and July of 2014, fifteen months after the enactment of Resolution 2098. The central question follows: to what extent has UNSC Resolution 2098 impacted MONUSCO’s capacity to protect Congolese civilians? In the opening text of this analysis, I included a statement from a Congolese community member, in which he laments the UN’s inability to deliver on its promises of peace in eastern Congo. Through literary analysis and qualitative interview data, I construct an argument to explain why Resolution 2098 failed to enhance the UN’s capacity to deliver the peace dividends of civilian protection to Congolese civilians in the fifteen months following its enactment.
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  • In Copyright
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  • Funding: None
Advisor
  • Nzongola-Ntalaja, Georges
Degree
  • Bachelor of Arts
Honors level
  • Honors
Degree granting institution
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Extent
  • 90

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