On
DRC, France
Tells ICP
Wants UNSC
Briefing Now
That Mrs
Malcorra Is
Back
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 26 --
Amid the
standoff
between the
M23 mutineers
and the
Congolese
government,
the UN
Security
Council held
an open
meeting on
Monday morning
-- on its own
working
methods.
Outside,
Inner City
Press asked
French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud
when the
Council would
again take up
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo.
"We
have asked for
a briefing
this week,"
Araud stopped
and told
Inner City
Press. "We
think we need
a briefing.
Mrs. Malcorra
is
back."
This
would be
Susana
Malcorra, the
chief of staff
of Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon. On
November 24,
Inner City
Press asked
the UN who had
attended the
meetings in
Kampala for
it, and what
it thought of
the
role assigned
to the MONUSCO
mission, which
did nothing as
M23 took
Goma.
There
was no answer
from the UN.
On Monday
morning, the
spokesman for
UN
Peackeeping's
boss Herve
Ladsous Kieran
Dwyer, who on
November 23
answered "I am
looking into
this" to three
question, now
claimed he was
not clear
Inner City
Press wanted
the answers.
Inner
City Press
replied:
"It
goes without
saying, but
now and in the
future, when a
question is
submitted (and
in this case
forwarded to
DPKO), it is
in order to
receive
responsive
information.
This is
especially but
not only true
when an
interim
response "I am
looking into
this" is sent.
Here was
question from
Saturday:
"'In
Minova, there
have
apparently
been rapes and
looting by
FARDC units
as they
retreated. Has
anyone from
the UN system,
including
OHCHR,
visited
Minova? The
FARDC units
that OHCHR
says committed
looting and
house burning
in Goma, has
the UN worked
with them?
What is the
impact of the
UN's Human
Rights Due
Diligence
policy on the
above.'"
Inner
City Press
also asked
"Who
from the UN
was at the
ICGLR Heads of
State meeting
now concluded
in
Kampala? What
are the UN's
comments and
plans on the
roles assigned
to it by what
was
announced?"
Now
Araud to his
credit appears
to have
answered the
question of
WHO was
in Kampala for
the UN: Susana
Malcorra. Why
not Ladsous?
Isn't he
responsible
for UN
Peacekeeping's
inaction, on
which he has
pointedly
refused to
answer any
Press
questions?
And what about
the UN's role,
after its
failures?
Also
in front of
the Security
Council on
Monday, it was
explained to
Inner
City Press
that even if
Herve Ladsous
intends to try
to bypass the
General
Assembly and
its C-34, to
which as Inner
City Press
exclusively
reported
Ladsous
proposed
drones in
March without
getting
any approval,
he will meet
resistance in
the Security
Council.
Pakistan,
a
Security
Council member
for the next
13 months, is
not a fan of
drones, it was
phrased to
Inner City
Press by
another
Council
member.
And Rwanda is
coming onto
the Council in
January.
The
problem, the
UN might say,
is not on the
drones, but in
the
peacekeeping
leadership.
Watch this
site.
Update:
Security
Council
President
Hardeep Singh
Puri confirmed
to Inner City
Press that
France has
asked for a
meeting on
DRC.
At Monday's
noon briefing,
after
publication of
the above,
deputy
spokesman
Eduardo del
Buey confirmed
to Inner City
Press that
Susana
Malcorra
represented
Ban and the UN
in Kampala.
And
where was
Ladsous? Well,
according to a
tweeted
photo, he
and Babacar
Gaye and even
USG Haq of the
Department of
Field Support
were all
speaking
before 100
students at
the UK
Royal College
of Defense
Studies.
Even while
Ladsous was in
New York, he
refused to
answer Press
questions. But
is this "brain
drain" the
reasons DPKO
has provided
nothing since
November 23?
, 
