Amid
Spin of DRC,
Still LRA In
Orientale, Low
Rank Trials
for
Minova
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 20 --
With Joseph
Kony's Lord's
Resistance
Army
being
discussed
Wednesday in
the UN
Security
Council in New
York, and
in passing by
US Ambassador
Samantha Power
at a Politico
function,
here is a paragraph
from the UN's
most recent
report on the
LRA:
"In
the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo, the
majority of
the attacks
continued to
occur in the
Haut-Uélé and
Bas-Uélé
districts of
Orientale
Province...
During the
third quarter
of 2013, a
total of 29
presumed
attacks by the
Lord’s
Resistance
Army,
including 2
deaths
and 21
abductions,
were reported
in the
Democratic
Republic of
the
Congo. Water,
health,
protection and
food remain
the priority
needs
in these
areas. During
the third
quarter of
2013, attacks
by the
Lord’s
Resistance
Army and
related deaths
in the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo
declined by 3
per cent, but
the number of
reported
abductions
increased. An
estimated
256,000 people
remain
displaced in
Orientale
Province."
This
comes amid
major UN
military
support to the
DRC Kabila
government,
through its
Force
Intervention
Brigade, to
"neutralize"
the
M23 militia,
and staged
celebration of
Kabila's
assertion of
governance and
sovereignty.
What
may be another
shadow-play: a
full year
after 135
rapes in
Minova,
today in Goma
in a military
court 41
lower-level
soldiers were
put on
trial. The
higher ups are
not named, and
after the case
has been put
back to
December 4.
But as we have
all year, we
will cover and
pursue
it. What does
the UN's Human
Rights Due
Diligence
Policy mean,
under
Herve Ladsous?
The
UN is a
run-around. At
Wednesday's UN
noon briefing,
Inner City
Press
asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
acting deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq
what the UN is
doing to try
to ensure that
the Kabila
government
actually inks
an agreement
with the M23.
Haq deflected
the
question by
telling Inner
City Press
that UN
official Abou
Moussa had
addressed it
in his
statement.
But there,
it's only half
a sentence:
"un accord
de paix n'a
toujours pas
ete signe,"
an accord
of peace has
still not been
signed. Very
helpful. Watch
this site.
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