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The Peacekeepers

The Peacekeepers

(The Peacekeepers), Paul Cowan / KAN, 2004
90 min

This Canadian documentary film provides a highly complex and detailed investigation into the activities of the UN peacekeeping forces in the African Congo. It was here in 2004, while worldwide attention was focussed on the war in Iraq, that the situation was threatening to turn into a tragedy far too reminiscent of that which befell Rwanda in 1994. Warring tribes, often connected to African mafia and using large numbers of child soldiers, were fighting for control of the rich diamond and gold mines in the Eastern part of the country. Innocent civilians suffered the most, and during the year and a half of the filming several hundred were killed. The film also provides footage of the complicated negotiations at the UN headquarters in New York regarding the Congo situation where, due to the limited scope of their operation, the "peacekeepers" can only help those most in need. Between 1994 and 2004 almost forty members of the peacekeeping force gave their lives and the total financial assistance reached a billion dollars a year. Even if the UN patrially succeeded in stabilizing the situation in the country, the real value of the assistance will only be able to be evaluated in the future.