UN's
Ban
Congratulates
DRC's
"Successful
Military
Operation,"
Echo of Sri
Lanka
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 6 --
Since when did
the UN start
congratulating
governments
for
"successful
military
operations"?
Today in
Paris the UN
summarizes
that in his
meeting with
Joseph Kabila,
"the
Secretary-General
congratulated
the DRC for
the successful
military
operation
against the
M23."
This
harkens back
for some to
the UN's
approach in
2009 to the
Sri Lankan
government's
"successful
military
operations"
against the
Tamil Tigers
or LTTE. A
rebel group
was wiped out;
in that case
tens
of thousands
of civilians
were killed.
Ban
Ki-moon was
hardly
critical of
Sri Lanka's
government at
the time.
Since then,
appearing to
resist at each
stage, Ban has
begun to
acknowledge
"the UN's"
failure in
2009 to put "Rights
Up Front,"
the title of
his new, still
non-public
response to
the events of
2009.
But
what was
learned, if
the UN in 2013
is offering
congratulations
for
"successful
military
operations"?
Inner
City Press on
Friday asked
Ban's deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq, to
make sure this
was an accurate
readout.
Haq said yes,
the UN "stands
behind" the
read out.
Some
might ask,
then, why Ban
did not
congratulate
Syria's Assad
government for
"successfully"
taking back
some territory
from armed
opposition
groups.
There
are
differences,
sure. But
shouldn't the
UN be hard
pressed to
congratulate
military
operations? To
say, thanks
for standing
between
mal-intended
arms and
civilians is
one thing. To
congratulate a
military
operation
carried out
with attack
helicopters is
something
else. Isn't
it? Watch this
site.
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