Peacekeepers at the MINUSMA camp in Kidal, Mali, following an attack, June 8, 2017. (UN Photo/Sylvain Liechti)
In early November, a false rumor began circulating among Facebook and WhatsApp users in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operation, MONUSCO, had provided transport to a group of M23 rebels. In September, an online news outlet in the Central African Republic (CAR) published a false story that government security forces had intercepted military equipment that the UN mission, MINUSCA, was sending to armed groups. And in December of last year, a video of a helicopter was widely shared on social media—including by a member of Mali’s National Transitional Council—alongside false claims that it depicted peacekeepers from the UN mission in Mali, MINUSMA, delivering supplies to terrorists.
These are just a few examples of the growing barrage of disinformation that has targeted UN peacekeeping operations, especially in CAR, Mali, and the DRC. In all three countries, anti-UN disinformation often involves false claims that peacekeepers are supporting armed groups or (in the case of Mali) terrorists. Another common theme is that peacekeepers are pillaging natural resources. Sometimes the disinformation targets the mission as a whole, and sometimes it targets individual UN personnel. It has taken various forms, including fake letters from mission leaders and photos or videos taken out of context and mislabeled.
Misinformation...
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