UN Plans To Use Spy Drones Over Eastern Congo

UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The Security Council has approved the use of surveillance drones over eastern Congo to monitor roving militias so it can more effectively deploy U.N. peacekeepers. A letter dated Jan. 22 from the president of the Security Council to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says that the council members note the unmanned spy planes will be used “on a case-by-case basis” and will not set a precedent for the U.N.’s general consideration of “legal, financial and technical implications of the use of unmanned aerial systems.”

The letter was released Thursday as a U.N. expert launched a special investigation into drone warfare and targeted killings, which the United States relies on as a front-line weapon in its global war against al-Qaida. The U.N.’s spy drones over Congo would be unarmed.