As UN's
CAR Alarmist Lanzer Praises Bozize Forces' Looting Limitation, His
Taking Sides Is Questioned
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, February 28 -- "They are
still looting," the UN's Toby Lanzer said Thursday of government
soldiers in the Central African Republic, "but at least they are not
still burning villages. That is an improvement, we need to engage."
Of an appeal for $92 million for
the CAR, so far 10% has been raised. Lanzer is traveling to Ottawa, he
has been in Europe. As part of his pitch, he is singing the praises of
the government. Back in November he told Associated Press that the
Central African Republic "is less corrupt, it has a less repressive
regime, and it has just as many if not more natural resources than many,
many countries in Africa that are so-called aid darlings." Frustration
at the lack of funding for and focus on CAR is understandable. But
does the best or only way to try to counter-act that have to involve
sweeping government looting under the rug?
Lanzer has praised the Bozize government for inviting in the
International Criminal Court, although the ICC's inquiry is focused on a
prior period -- on Bozize's enemies, essentially. Meanwhile, would the
Bozize government seek to enforce the ICC arrest warrants against the
Lord's Resistance Army, reportedly in CAR? Inner City Press asked about
this on Thursday, and Lanzer said that the LRA might only be "close" to
the CAR, and about ICC matters, he suggested that the CAR government be
asked. Video
here
from Minute 12:49. But the question was about Lanzer's, and the UN's,
statements about the CAR government. If Lanzer doesn't know their
positions on the ICC, why has he praised them?
Asked by AP who is committing the
rapes in the country, Lanzer said overwhelming the rebels. Inner City
Press asked if he was saying that government forces are not involved. "I
didn't say that," he pointed out. "I said it was overwhelmingly the
rebels." If you say so.
Lanzer's job as humanitarian
coordinator is to raise money for the CAR. He has apparently decided
that to accomplish this, it makes most sense to present the existing
Bozize government as being an improvement. Sure, its presidential guards
kill and rape in the country's northwest zone. But they do it less that
before. Perhaps Lanzer's strategy of encouragement and engagement is
working. But who will be the judge?
Toby Lanzer: they're still
looting, but...
Lanzer appears in the
vein of the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, Eric Laroche. In
early 2007 Laroche came to UN headquarters and
advocating siding with the
Ethiopian-installed Transitional Federal Government.
He told the press, "If I'm wrong, you can judge me later." After the TFG
shelled civilian neighborhoods in Mogadishu and hundreds of thousands of
people were displaced, Laroche finally admitted that it was a mistake.
What Lanzer said Thursday, leaving the briefing room, was directed at
Inner City Press. "I look forward to reading how you put all that
together, " he said. And here it is, a
CAR alarm
sounding in
the night. To be continued.
* * *
These reports are
usually also available through
Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here for a
Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army.
Click
here
for an earlier
Reuters AlertNet
piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's
$200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.
Video
Analysis here
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-453A,
UN, NY 10017 USA Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's mobile
(and weekends): 718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner
City Press are listed here, and
some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com -
