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UN Leaves Civilians Outside Congo Bases,
Peacekeepers are Absent, Kerim Is In Kinshasa
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
November 18 -- The UN admitted on
Tuesday that it blocks civilians fleeing gunfire from entering the UN's
bases
in the Congo. Inner City Press asked the UN's Special Representative in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo Alan Doss about
reports that in Rwindi, some 150 civilians were left outside the UN
base while
bombs fells around them. Doss said he'd heard that, and that similar
events have
taken place in Rutshuru and Tonga, due to UN bases being "too small"
to accommodate civilians, even those fleeing active fire-fights. Video here,
from Minute 36:14.
To some,
this has echoes of Rwanda, in which a much smaller UN force stood by
while
civilians were hacked and shot to death outside UN bases. More recently
in
Abyei in Sudan, it is alleged that civilians were blocked from entering
the UN
base even as their town was burned down. Doss said nothing can be done,
the
bases are too small and there are guns inside. But what then does the
UN
Mission's mandate to protect civilians mean?
Inner City
Press also asked about a nagging discrepancy between Doss' and others'
statements that there are 17,000 UN peacekeepers in the Congo, and the
UN
military coordinator's briefing to Security Council Ambassadors, that
the
number is 15,500. Doss said that there are always rotations and
absences. Some wondered, absences during a
crisis like
this? Rotations?
There are complaints
by Congolese authorities in Ituri region that Uganda has set up
training camps
for historically Uganda-aligned rebel Peter Kerim
a/k/a Karim, who sought to overthrow
Joseph Kabila until he was offered a position in Kabila's army.
UN's Doss welcomed to N. Kivu, echoes of Rwanda not
shown
Inner City Press asked Doss if he could
confirm or deny the reports, and where Kerim now was. "In Kinshasa,"
Doss said, taking the information from a UN military staffer left
off-screen
and unnamed.
"He
was brought in under some pretext," Doss said, and
did not go "back to Ituri." Apparently he is not really serving with
the Congo army either. Just as there was a warlord in the Waldorf --
click here
for that Inner City Press story -- now there is a warlord, Kerim,
who killed UN
peacekeepers, cooling his heals in Kinshasa. We will continue to follow
this.
Click here for Inner City
Press Nov. 7 debate on the war in Congo
Watch this site, and this Oct. 2 debate, on
UN, bailout, MDGs
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
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
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