Officially, the DRC has been on United Nations (UN) embargo on arms since 2003 due to recurrent armed conflicts in the country. But, that is on the paper and the story on the ground is even silly when in 2008 the UN faced “allegations against peacekeeping troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as a BBC investigation uncovered evidence of illegal gold trading and arms deals with violent rebel groups”[1]
The eastern part of the country is polluted with tens of armed groups and what is paradox about is that the country has the biggest UN mission over 20,000 civil and uniform personnel ever deployed. Troops have been stationed in the country for more than a decade and as today armed groups still have shinning days ahead. There is a vicious circle and that is the alarming problem for those who have been enduring the impact of the armed conflicts.
DRC is surrounded by 9 countries and this means 9 boundaries with a security system that is not reliable to control all entries of the country. So, arms cross the boundaries very easily from neighboring countries and land on hands of warlords. I think the government needs to step up it does want to be accused having acquaintances with many of those groups. It also has been reports that some high ranking officers of the Congolese army have been compromised on weapon deals with rebels. In this confusion, it is difficult to extract good from bad because every one there seems to have dirty hands in this arms smuggling in DRC.
claumas 