UN deploys spy drones in DR Congo to monitor border and militias
Move marks major step in surveillance of West African region rich in minerals
The United Nations was yesterday scheduled to start using surveillance drones for the first time in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a landmark intelligence-gathering advance for the world body.
The drones 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 spy drones in the hope that their use will be extended. UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous was yesterday in Goma, the major city in eastern DR Congo, to "preside over the launch of unarmed, unmanned aerial vehicles" , said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky.
The drones would be "an important tool to assist the mission in fulfilling its mandate to protect civilians," Nesirky added.
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 that by March or April there would be a 24-hour drone surveillance operation in eastern DR Congo.