UN Speaking With US and France to Acquire Drones to Spy on the CongoSusanne Posel, Contributor Stephane Parmentie, representative from Oxfam, said: What is missing the most in terms of land grabbing is a clear condemnation of this practice. That was one of the baseline demands of civil society. That was impossible to include it, because it was too sensitive and too controversial for quite a lot of member states. Nations like Ethiopia, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone in Africa have voluntarily signed agreements with multi-national corporations and foreign investors, allowing them to control agricultural land. The nations leaders believe that giving access to their resources will benefit their people; however, this is just another manipulative ploy to coercively acquire control over land, food production and securitization. Kieran Dwyer, UN peacekeeping spokesperson asserts that the UNs consideration of drones would only be used for monitoring the movements of armed groups, [and] one tool we are considering. Dwyer goes on to say: Of course, we would do this carefully, in full cooperation with the government of the DR Congo, and trialing their most effective uses for information gathering to help implement our mandate to protect civilians. Ultimately, to introduce these, we would need the support of member states to equip the mission. In March of this year, in a closed conference, Herve Ladsous, top official for the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, proposed that drones be used to spy on civilians as well as intercept communications in the South Sudan area. Information collected by those drones would be utilized at the UNs discretion. The use of drones has recently become quite popular, with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) requesting 10 more units to be added to the 35 drone fleet. Although the CIA does not officially acknowledge their use of these weapons, they have nonetheless requested that they be able to use more of them. According to a DHS solicitation for participation in the Robotic Aircraft for Public Safety (RAPS) project from the small unmanned aerial systems (SUAS) for transition to its customers the hidden agenda was in their unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that were acquired in 2007 for the purpose of spying on American citizens. Thanks to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), 6 national drone test sites were established to coincide with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announcement that by 2015 at least 30,000 drones will be in American skies surveying US citizens in the name of safety, according to Janet Napolitano. President Obama signed the FAA Modernization and Reform Act in February of this year, demanding that the FAA integrate operation of drones into National Airspace by 2015. These drones will be in civilian airspace, with the potential for invasive surveillance of daily activities, says House Representative Ed Markey. Obamas use of drones in foreign nations to commit murder without having to engage the enemy has become infamous affording him the nickname drone warrior-in-chief. Susanne Posel is the Chief Editor of Occupy Corporatism. Our alternative news site is dedicated to reporting the news as it actually happens; not as it is spun by the corporately funded mainstream media. You can find us on ourFacebook page. linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 