As the brutal pictures and documentaries unfold in front of our eyes while watching various news channels, one starts to question the very existence of an international body by the name ‘UNITED NATIONS’. People are dying in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo and yet the UN and its continental satellite organization, the AU(African Union) are busy calling for ‘worthless’ summits when the real work should be done on the ground.

As a normal human being, one thing that has amazed me over the past few years or so is the slow diplomatic and military pace of the UN in diffusing tensions in Africa and some other hot spots around the world.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has warned of dire consequences if the violence continues in and around the key Congolese town of Goma. But Mr. Moon might be forgetting the very fact that actions do matter most rather than sophisticated headline-grabbing quotes and terms. Why are thousands of people homeless and hungry despite the presence of the largest UN peacekeeping contingent? Why a world organization like the UN just cannot afford to stop the Tutsi renegade general Laurent Nkunda from carrying out massacres in the name of past actions by the Hutus during the 1994 Rwandan genocide?

Only the bureaucrats in New York know the answer. The continent of Africa is already reeling under the rigors of instability and political and civil failures from north to south and from east to west. Yet there has been no constructive effort on the part of the international community to look for ways to bring relief to the countless of innocent civilians, be it the people of Darfur, or the DR Congo or Zimbabwe.

The UN’s infrastructure and coordination on hostile grounds are unable to diffuse conflicts engulfing the poorest continent on the planet. The committed aid workers face dire conditions to attend the innumerable victims inside affected regions as the UN’s military force lacks equipments and leadership to oversee peacekeeping operations.

In a summit held at the Kenyan capital Nairobi, leaders of seven African states have called for an immediate ceasefire in DR Congo and for UN peacekeepers to be provided with greater powers to ensure peace. But the point is, will there be an end to the human sufferings in eastern Congo? Will we see tough measures being taken by the UN peacekeepers to combat Laurent Nkunda’s ‘mercenaries’?

There is one problem though. DR Congo’s rich mineral resources have attracted many unwanted forces into the country in the past and is still doing the same plunging the country into a political and military quagmire that is difficult to get out of. At present the conflict is engulfing a wider region with reports from the ground have revealed the involvements of Angolan and Zimbabwean troops inside the country fighting on the government side to drive out Nkunda’s forces.

Nkunda is being backed by Rwanda and there are grave concerns that European and Russian arms have gained access into the country adding fuel to an already angry fire spreading across the Great Lakes.

It is up to the UN to stamp its fledgling authority on the issue and bring about a concrete and long term deal that would help heal the wounds of an already shattered population.