The Briefing Room
General Category => World News => Topic started by: EC on July 14, 2013, 05:34:15 pm
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Via Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/14/us-congo-un-idUSBRE96D09720130714
(Reuters) - U.N. peacekeepers in Democratic Republic of Congo will begin using unarmed drones on a trial basis to monitor its war-torn east, the head of peacekeeping operations told Reuters on Sunday.
U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, in Paris to attend France's Independence Day celebrations, told Reuters a deal signed on Friday with an unnamed company would allow for a "complete picture of what is happening" on the ground.
Thick forests, rugged terrain and few roads have complicated peacekeepers' efforts to control the area.
"We have just signed a commercial contract for the UAVs, and I say UAVs, not drones, as they are unarmed," Ladsous said, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles.
"This is a major innovation. For the first time the U.N. is going into state-of-the-art, 21st-century technology."
More at link.
Is this justified or justifiable?
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This should prove amusing. The blue-helmet drones will probably be as ineffective in the sky as the blue-helmets themselves are on the ground.