UN Failing Africa Again: Congo Violence Displaces 600,000+

This time, it's the situation in the Congo that deserves closer attention. The United Nations 17,000 member peacekeeping force in Congo, the largest such contingent in the world, is on the run after rebel groups have gone on the offensive against the regime there. 600,000 are displaced and the numbers continue to grow literally by the hour.

The misery in the Congo has its genesis in the 1994 genocide and ethnic cleansing in neighboring Rwanda, and we're now watching the same ethnic groups, the Hutus and Tutsis about to rip Congo apart. Millions of Hutus were forced to flee Rwanda following the 1994 genocide and settled in Congo, including many of those responsible for the genocide. They set up camps from which to carry out operations against the Tutsis in Rwanda. Now, they're on the march:

Rebels vowing to take Congo's eastern provincial capital of 600,000 people advanced toward Goma on Tuesday as Congolese troops and U.N. tanks retreated, while tens of thousands fled to a makeshift shelter.

The sudden influx tripled the size of the camp in Kibati in a matter of hours, said Ron Redmond, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency. A hundred refugees a day, mostly women and children, were also fleeing across the border into Uganda, that country's Red Cross said.

In Kibati, a few miles from the front line, young men also lobbed rocks Tuesday at three U.N. tanks with Uruguayan troops heading away from the battlefield.

There are no simple answers to dealing with the situation there, but the UN's presence does little to deter the combatants from going after people who are taking refuge at UN refugee camps.

The Congolese military and the UN have retreated in the face of this rebel army, leaving civilians in the path of the advancing army wondering about what will happen next.

Aid groups and UN officials warn of a human rights catastrophe. Considering that the UN is doing nothing but withdrawing from the field of battle, the African Union isn't likely to send in forces anytime soon, and the Congolese military is also retreating, I'd say that there's little anyone can do to stop the advancing rebel army from taking Goma.

No one at the UN seems prepared to actually force peace on this rebel army; making a sustained fight to the rebel army, rather than withdrawing to avoid a fight. This only enables and emboldens this group to take further territory and advance towards its goals. The use of helicopter gunships is a start, but those UN tanks and armored units need to stop retreating and begin holding their ground.

There's also suggestions that the rebel army is operating in cahoots with the Rwandan government, which expands the level of this crisis.

UPDATE:
It's also important to keep in mind that the failure to act to prevent the 1994 genocide is leading to further bloodshed and displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. It should once again be a clarion call for action to stop bad actors before they are able to carry out their plans, and shows that the UN cannot handle such situations with peacekeepers who are constrained by their rules of engagement from actually enforcing peace by going after those who wish to break it.