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| International-UN-NGOs |
| U.N. Calls for Wider Use of Surveillance Drones |
| 2014-05-30 |
| [An Nahar] U.N. peacekeeping missions should deploy more drones and state-of the art technology to become more effective, limit boots on the ground and keep aid workers safer, their chief said Thursday. On International Day of U.N. Peacekeepers, staff paid tribute to more than 3,000 peacekeepers who have died since 1948, including 106 last year, and to those still serving on the frontline. The head of U.N. peacekeeping, Herve Ladsous, said, on average, a peacekeeper dies every 30 days, and technology needs to be upgraded to assist a record number of U.N. boots on the ground. The Security Council last month approved a new mission in Central African Republic and in December voted to send an extra 5,500 soldiers to war-torn South Sudan. "Clearly we cannot continue to afford to work with 20th century tools in the 21st century," he told news hounds in New York. Ladsous said drones had already helped in DR Congo and could be vital in improving humanitarian access. "They (convoys) can use the images of the machines to make sure they are not going to be attacked or hijacked on the way. That I think is a very significant development," Ladsous said. "We do need them (drones) in countries like Mali, like Central African Republic and clearly in South Sudan it would be my desire that we might deploy them," he said. Surveillance drones could replace some military observers and make a big difference. "In some cases using technology can make it necessary not to have so many boots on the ground and also, lets never forget, to improve on the delivery," Ladsous said. Ladsous expressed hope that the quickening departure of Western troops from Afghanistan could see more EU and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... countries take part in U.N. peacekeeping missions. "This is an opportunity for them to come back or move into United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... peacekeeping, especially with high-tech assets, state of the art equipment... that could make the difference." He pointed to Ireland, in the Golan Heights, and the Netherlands and Sweden, in Mali, as examples of EU and NATO countries who had also served in Afghanistan. Ameerah Haq, head of field support, told news hounds that fuel-efficient cars, solar power, night-vision capabilities and tethered balloons would also be useful. "What gives the best capability to the troops? And if that is technology then certainly we want to study to see what is in our means to deploy," she said. Haq said U.N. peacekeepers were more at risk than ever. "We are facing the specific targeting of peacekeepers and also we are seeing the merging of conflict and international criminal activities," she said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Anything to keep the peacekeepers |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2014-05-30 09:19 |