A neo-Jacobin

Darfur: when 'peacekeeping' means colonialism

It's true that an image can be worth a thousand words - just take a good look at the image above. It's a photograph of two UN Belgian troops who were caught trying to roast a Somali boy, yes, you got that right, ROAST him! This was an atrocity committed during the UN operation unfortunately entitled 'Restore Hope'. And what did these two 'peacekeeping' paratroopers receive for such a hideous crime? A month in prison, and the loss of a week’s wages.

Such crimes by UN troops in Third World countries are not isolated incidents, indeed, UN 'peacekeeping' forces, throughout the world are notorious for establishing such patterns of abuse. This is in fact a natural situation that foreign elite 'peacekeeping' forces find themselves in when confronted by events on the ground they cannot really begin to comprehend.

Of course, the boy in the photograph will never receive any real justice for the crime committed on him; this is mainly because UN forces are totally unaccountable to African people. The road that led UN troops to his home in Somalia was paved with so many good intentions by liberal interventionist in the West - all because such UN missions are deemed to be a good thing even if a 'few' Africans are brutalised on the way - this is what the people of Darfur have to look forward to.

Read on:

Darfur: colonised by ‘peacekeepers’. Spiked Online. 2007.

U.N. 'peacekeepers' rape women, children. World Net Daily.

U.N. suspends peacekeepers amid sex abuse charges. CNN.com/world. 2007.

New Allegations of Sexual Abuse by Peacekeepers in Africa. The New York Times. 2007.

Labels: Darfur, Western militarism

posted by Courtney Hamilton @ 7:13 PM