In
DRC,
Kobler Adds
Attack Copters,
Complains
"Unarmed"
Ones Shot At
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 12 --
During the
UN's recent
General
Debate, the
issue of UN
helicopters
flying
reconnaissance
missions over
positions
assigned to
the M23 when
they withdrew
from Goma last
November
arose.
At the UN in
New York,
Inner City
Press twice
asked about
them,
including if
given its new
posture the UN is
now a
combatant, a
party
to an armed
conflict.
French
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Alexis Lamek
dodges the
latter
question;
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
told Inner
City Press, in
the context
of the
French-led
Security
Council trip
to DRC,
that "the
other
journalists"
didn't
care about
these
questions.
Now
UN envoy
Martin Kobler
has taken to
the Twitter
airwaves to
complain
about M23
shooting at an
"unarmed" UN
helicopter,
vowing
that the
flights will
continue.
As Inner City
Press reported
and
updated
yesterday,
UN
Peacekeeping
under its fourth
Frenchman in a
row, Herve
Ladsous,
is ordering
up Rooivalk
combat
helicopters
with
70 mm rockets
called only
"relatively
accurate."
So
the UN,
ostensibly
about peace,
is fueling an
arms race in
Eastern
Congo, and
escalating a
conflict. This
is the
Ladsous-ification
of UN
Peacekeeping,
about which Ladsous and now Kobler refuse to
answer
questions. (Ladsous'
"farce" was in
the UK New
Statesman
this week;
when wil
Kobler's turn
toward
unresponsiveness
be
similarly
noted?)
Kobler's
emphasis
on "unarmed"
helicopters
appears
specious. Is
he
saying it's OK
to fire on
armed UN
helicopters?
Since the UN
supports
Congolese Army
units,
including
those like the
41st and 391st
Battalions
implicated in
the mass rape
of 135
Congolese
women in
Minova, aren't
reconnaissance
flights part
of an armed
conflict?
In
most places on
Earth, or
before UN
Peacekeeping's
Ladsous-ification,
UN
envoys like
Kobler sought
to find a
place for the
UN that was
not
that of a
combatant. But
here, the dye
is cast.
How
will it work
out?
That is not
yet clear. But
it is clear to
many that this
is no longer
the UN, or
what the UN
claims to be.
And Kobler has
become as
unresponsive
and
unaccountable
as his boss. A
fish, as they
say, rots
from the head.
Watch this
site.
The
Office of Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesperson
sent this
response to
Inner City
Press after
the October 11
noon briefing:
Subject:
Your
question on
MONUSCO
From: UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at]
un.org
Date: Fri, Oct
11, 2013 at
4:49 PM
To:
Matthew.Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
“In
order to
enhance
MONUSCO’s
capabilities
in eastern
DRC, the
United
Nations asked
one of the
Mission’s
Troop
Contributing
Countries,
the Republic
of South
Africa, to
provide three
attack
helicopters
and
two utility
helicopters to
the Mission.
South Africa
has accepted
the
request and
preparations
are ongoing.
MONUSCO also
currently has
attack
helicopters
from Ukraine
and
Bangladesh.
MONUSCO will
continue to
use all assets
in accordance
with its rules
of
engagement.”
, 
