Page 75 - World Airnews Magazine January 2020 Edition

NEWS DIGITAL

African Republic were not ultimately followed by the UN troops on respond quickly to prevent civilians from being harmed if they
the ground. So it’s not certain that new methods would, in fact, do not have enough soldiers or patrol vehicles or helicopters to
work better. respond.
For one thing, getting drones in the right places can be
complicated. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, there were five DRONES STILL HAVE POTENTIAL
drones to cover more than 900,000 miles², but there was money
to operate only one at a time. On the ground, there is one peace All these problems don’t mean drones are useless at protecting
keeper for each 50 miles². This is too small to guarantee a quick civilians. For instance, UN drones discovered armed groups
response to crises. smuggling gold believed to be providing funding for the armed
Even if drones are in key places, the information they gather has groups and their activities. That was news to the UN and authori-
to get to peacekeeping soldiers quickly enough that a response can ties stopped the smuggling. Drones also helped save 14 people in
arrive and prevent violence. To be fast enough to save lives, drone Democratic Republic of Congo after their boat capsized.
pilots, intelligence analysts and the peace keepers themselves have I believe these efforts and others aimed at preventing violence
to co-ordinate closely. could be more effective with more support from UN member
The UN’s drones are unarmed, so the people who fly them by nations. In recent years, though, wealthy countries have slashed
remote control have to write reports and send data to intelligence their contributions to the UN peacekeeping budget and reduced
units to determine whether there are any threats to civilians, and, the number of soldiers they’ll send on missions. That has left
if so, what the peace keepers should do about them. Most UN peacekeeping missions to do their work with ill-equipped, poorly
missions don’t have enough people or equipment to analyse drone trained soldiers from poor nations. Q
footage, so the process can take days or weeks.
The 15 UN intelligence officers working in the Democratic Article courtesy: https://theconversation.com/what-can-drones-
Republic of Congo, for instance, say they have enough work to oc- do-to-protect-civilians-in-armed-conflict-124249
cupy hundreds more colleagues. However, the UN has historically Michael Yekple is a Ph.D. Candidate in Security Studies, University
avoided intelligence activity because of its association with covert of Central Florida. He does not work for, consult, own shares in
operations, which run counter to the organisation’s intentions of or receive funding from any company or organisation that would
operating openly and without deception. benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations
Even if peace keepers do get timely information, they may not beyond their academic appointment.

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