The murky game of UN Peacekeeping Missions in Africa: The case of the MINUSCA as an instrument of American Foreign Policy in Central African Republic (CAR)

Written by Charly Kengne, a Pan-Africanist and expert on security and defense issues based in Cameroon.

Since its creation in 1945, the United Nations(UN) has always been heavily criticized, and its very existence questioned. Seventy-nine (79) years on, it is still imperative to point the finger at the inefficiency of this huge organ employing thousands of civil servants in New York - the headquarters - and in the UN agencies spread around the world. 

But today, this institution, which rose from the ashes of the Second World War, is not reassuring. Its inability to influence current conflicts, particularly in Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Ukraine, and Palestine, is undermining its credibility. If we add to this the complicity or threat to national security of certain member states, it becomes clear that this organization, far from being a solution, is the main problem of the ills that are shaking our planet.

Beyond the mistrust shown towards this institution by certain member states, it has to be said that this international organization is going through an existential crisis. The blue helmets, the pillars of UN peacekeeping, are now being accused of serious wrongdoing.

I-The UN lie about Haiti which caused the death of more than 10,000 Haitians

In August 2016, the United Nations finally owned up to its involvement in the terrible cholera epidemic that hit Haiti in 2010. The contamination caused almost 10,000 deaths since the bacterium arrived in the country in 2010 and has made 800,000 people ill. UN peacekeepers were accused of bringing it with them from Nepal, something the international institution stubbornly denied until 18 August 2016. UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said:

‘Over the past year, the UN has become convinced that much more needs to be done in terms of its own involvement in the initial outbreak and suffering of people affected by cholera.’

A study by Doctors Without Borders published in March of the same year showed that the 9,300 official deaths had been grossly underestimated. ‘Between 2010 and 2012, there were more cases in Haiti than in the whole of Africa’ points out epidemiologist Renaud Piarroux. These figures are all the more startling given that there has not been a cholera epidemic on the island for one hundred and fifty (150) years.

II- The Murky and complicit role of the UN MINUSMA in the instability in Mali

On July 10th, 2022, 49 Ivorian soldiers were arrested in Mali, then charged in mid-August with ‘attempting to undermine the external security of the State’ and formally imprisoned. Three Ivorian women belonging to this group of soldiers were subsequently released in mid-September following mediation.

Bamako accused these Ivorian soldiers of having traveled under false identities and with weapons without informing the Malian authorities.

In response to these accusations, Abidjan asserted that the soldiers were on a mission for the UN, as part of logistical support operations for the United Nations Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), and demanded their release.

The UN acknowledged ‘dysfunctions’ in a memo to the Malian government and admitted that ‘certain measures have not been followed’.

As recently as January 2024, during the ceremony at which traditional clerics and dignitaries presented their greetings to the President of the Malian Transition, H.E. Assimi Goita, the latter revealed the following in his speech: 

‘The day MINUSMA left the Kidal region, a Malian army drone filmed them handing over some fifteen armored vehicles to the terrorist forces in Kidal, as well as heavy weapons’, adding that Mali has all the videos in its possession.

III- MINUSCA (UN) as an instrument of U.S. foreign policy in the Central African Republic (CAR)

The Nigerian media outlet Naijaloaded published sensational reports that at least two American agents had arrived on Central African territory under the pretext of working within MINUSCA ( the UN mission to CAR) but whose real aim was to destabilize the situation in CAR.

The first is said to be an American officer who arrived in the CAR under the name of Cody Michael Lane, who began his career in the US armed forces serving at the US military base in Arifjan, Kuwait. He set up a successful business with the local population, trading military equipment for soft drugs. Cody Lane was then recruited into the intelligence services. In the Persian Gulf, Lane became involved in the Middle East arms and drugs smuggling system on behalf of pro-American groups in the region. As Lane speaks French very well, after completing his service in the Middle East, he began preparations for deployment to Africa. According to reports in the CAR, Cody Lane is responsible for coordinating the organization of the illegal export of Central African diamonds to the United States with the support and assistance of rebel groups such as the UPC (Union for Peace in Central Africa) and CPC (Coalition des Patriotes pour le Changement) headed by the former Head of State, General François Bozizé.

As for the second employee of the US intelligence mission, Naijaloaded learned from informants in the Central African Republic that he was a development engineer, Ian Andrew Beckenbach. He is known as a drone specialist and spent several years working for Invictus Global Services and then ArgenTech Solutions Inc., where he gained experience testing and debugging military drone equipment. Four years ago, Beckenbach was recruited by the CIA and, a few years ago, underwent special training in subversive activities. As part of an American intelligence group, Beckenbach collected data on the positions of the Central African army in order to coordinate rebel attacks. According to Naijaloaded, he was involved in an attack by an unidentified aircraft on the FACA (Central African Armed Forces) base in Bossangoa and the ex-SOCADA cotton ginning factory on the night of 28 November 2022. It should also be noted that on his arrival in the CAR, the contents of Beckenbach's luggage attracted the attention of Central African customs. In addition to quadcopters and surveillance equipment, employees discovered items of a sexual nature, such as sex toys and articles for women.

On the basis of the information revealed, it is possible to state with certainty that the American officers who arrived in CAR under the cover of MINUSCA will continue to maintain a climate of insecurity in the country by supplying terrorist organizations with the weapons and information they need to fight against the Central African government. In its 10-year presence in CAR, MINUSCA has been accused of multiple crimes, including cooperating with armed group fighters and providing them with information on the whereabouts and movements of the FACA

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