New York (AFP) – The United Nations will start using surveillance drones for the first time in Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday in a landmark intelligence-gathering advance for the world body.
The unmanned aircraft will be used to monitor the volatile border between DR Congo and Rwanda and movements by militias and armed groups in a region stricken by three decades of conflict.
The United Nations has a huge peacekeeping mission in DR Congo, and other missions and countries are eagerly watching the first international spy drones in the hope that their use will be extended.
UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous is in Goma, the major city in eastern Congo, to “preside over the launch of unarmed, unmanned aerial vehicles” on Tuesday, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said.
The drones, Nesirky added, would be “an important tool to assist the mission in fulfilling its mandate to protect civilians.”
The mission will start with two of the spies in the sky, built by Italian firm Selex ES, a subsidiary of the Italian giant Finmeccanica, UN officials said.
Up to five could be in operation after trials are completed, they added.
General Carlos Alberto Dos Santos Cruz, military commander of the UN mission, MONUSCO, said last month there would be 24-hour drone surveillance in place by March or April.
The vast mineral-rich region is at the heart of a zone where millions have died in conflict over the past decades.
The United Nations formed a 3,000-strong intervention brigade this year to operate in eastern Congo with a special “offensive peacekeeping” mandate.
This has drastically changed the UN mission alongside the looming shadow of the unarmed surveillance vehicles.
Comments
About Author
Comments Closed .