CF for Congo: Pressure builds/Gov't Update

This is really starting to look like a well-orchestrated campaign. It would certainly seem that well-placed people in Ottawa are hard at it; a combination of the government and the CF/Army (if the latter are involved shameful and shameless)? Further to these posts,

CF drumming up a Congo mission?

A UN Congo mission for the CF? Local realities

Afstan, Congo, R2P: 'The phrase "stick a fork in it" comes to mind'

this hot off the Net (UN officials do not go public as below without some sort of green light):

UN asks Canada for help in the Congo
UN official uses GG's visit to issue direct appeal to Ottawa

The United Nations issued a direct, public appeal to Canada Tuesday, asking for the country's help with the international peacekeeping operation in the troubled Democratic Republic of the Congo...

Christian Manahl, the UN deputy administrator overseeing operations in the eastern Congo, was blunt with Canadian reporters after meeting Jean at the UN compound here on the shores of Lake Kivu.

He outlined progress on the ground, but quickly added there was an important role for Canada.

“Definitely logistics, mobility [so we send helicopters to the Congo but refuse to keep them in Afstan?], and intelligence are the key issues where we felt more would be needed,” Manahl said...

It is widely expected here Canadian Gen. Andrew Leslie will get the nod from Ottawa and members of the Security Council to take over command of the UN mission in Congo, and will bring with him up to 100 top-level officers to support the mission.

The question swirling around political circles in Canada is whether the Stephen Harper government will back Leslie with Canadian troops, effectively redeploying soldiers from Afghanistan where Parliament has set a mid-2011 deadline to begin a pullout [frying pan to fire, what?--though lots fewer CF dead]...

Now read this Montreal Gazette editorial (via Norman's Spectator):

Congo is a quagmire Canada should avoid

Governor-General Michaëlle Jean's official visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo this week has prompted speculation that Canadian soldiers could soon follow her. This is an idea Canadians should reject promptly and firmly...

...Afghanistan is Switzerland compared to the Congo, where ill-disciplined government soldiers, Hutu genocidaires chased out of Rwanda, local warlords, regional militias, Rwandan regulars, the bloodily bizarre Lord's Resistance Army, and mere brigands come and go, some crossing Congo's borders when it suits them [but no IEDs yet]. Deadly ethnic strife in Equateur province is the latest development...

This is the hellhole for which Canada is now being invited to provide a new UN commander and some troops. A decision is expected from Ottawa within weeks and it appears the fix is in [emphasis added]: Jean's visit sets the stage, and Gen. Leslie, 52, was just shuffled out of his job as commander of our Army but was given no new assignment, despite an impressive record...

What a mess. Add it all up and Congo is a quagmire of bloodshed, blunders, and bureaucracy, offering little potential for Canadians to accomplish anything. Canada should politely but decisively decline this invitation.

Yup.

Update: The Congo has finally been raised in the Commons. NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar (a supporter of a new Canadian mission) asked in Question Period today if the government would support the UN's interest in having Lt.-Gen. Leslie take command of MONUC. Foreign affairs minister Lawrence Cannon confirmed that Canada has been asked by the UN (along with some other countries) to provide a new commander for the UN mission and that the government was considering the request.

Now that the cat is officially out of the bag will the government bring this--rather consequential--matter forward for debate in the Commons if it looks favourably on the request?

On the other hand, if the government declines, how will it explain its decision to the legion of Canadian lovers of UN peackeeping? Though MONUC is not "traditional peacekeeping" since it's under Chapter VII of the UN Charter [see 8. here], not Chapter VI, and is allowed to be quite forceful, including deadly.