Congolese discuss what the UN’s first-time launch of surveillance drones could mean for its peacekeeping mission.

Herve Ladsous (L), head of the UN Peacekeeping Operations, stands next to a peacekeeper during the official launching ceremony of an Italian-made surveillance drone at the airport in the northeastern city of Goma, capital of strife-torn North Kivu province, on December 3, 2013. (AFP/STRINGER)

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) welcomed the United Nations’ most recent peacekeeping initiative: surveillance drones in eastern DRC. According to the UN, deployment of drones will advance monitoring DRC’s volatile border with Rwanda and Uganda, which has been a hub for rebel groups. UN Security Council was asked by the peacekeeping department to back the use of surveillance drones after M23 rebels took over the key provincial capital of Goma in 2012.