UNITED
NATIONS, July
25 -- In the
UN Security
Council
Thursday
morning, the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo's
foreign
minister
Raymond
Tshibanda
said that
rebellions in
the Great
Lakes region
for years have
"all
bear the same
genetic
signature" (la
meme signature
genetique).
Inner
City Press has put
the speech
online here.
Given
the mass
killing of
Tutsis in
Rwanda in 1994
and events
since, this
line was
quickly seen
-- mostly by
people outside
of the UN --
as
hate speech or
worse.
Inner
City Press
wrote to the
top three
spokespeople
of UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, who
was present
during the
remarks, and
asked if
Ban (or his
envoy Mary
Robinson, also
present) "have
any comment
on the DRC
foreign
minister
having said in
the Security
Council that
all Great
Lakes
rebellions
'bear the same
genetic
signature'? "
Ban's
spokesperson's
office chose
to hold its
noon briefing
precisely
while
Rwanda's
foreign
minister was
given a speech
which, among
other
things,
criticized the
UN mission
MONUSCO. While
after advocacy
by
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
they
answered some
questions
off-camera in
their office,
they had no
answer to
yesterday's
Inner
City Press questions
about
Congolese Army
bombing of and
killing of
civilians in
Rumangabo and
Kavodo.
Did
UN
Peacekeeping,
led by its
fourth
Frenchman in a
row Herve
Ladsous,
even go to the
site? There
was no answer.
It is noted
that Ladsous,
while
France's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
at the UN,
argued for
the escape of
genocidaires
from
Rwanda into
Eastern Congo.
This is
the context,
and location,
of the
"genetic
signature"
remark.
Inner
City Press
wrote to two
spokespeople
for the US
Mission to the
UN,
where John
Kerry will
meet with
Syrian rebels
later on
Thursday,
asking if
Kerry or new
US Great Lakes
envoy Russ
Feingold or
Acting
Permanent
Representative
DiCarlo, all
present in the
Security
Council
Thursday, have
any comment on
the DRC
foreign
minister
having said in
the Security
Council that
all Great
Lakes
rebellions
'bear the same
genetic
signature'?"
Kerry
made what some
described as a
slip of the
tongue at Thursday's
photo
op with Ban
Ki-moon,
saying (as
transcribed by
the US
Mission) that
"both leaders
in the region,
Prime Minister
Netanyahu and
President
Abbas, have
made a
courageous
decision to
try to return
to
final status
talks. And
it's my hope
that that will
be able to
happen as
procedures are
put in place
by both
countries in
order to
empower that."
Some
were surprised
Kerry referred
to Palestine
as a country
(it is, we
note, an
Observer STATE
at the UN.)
But Kerry's
remarks were
off the
cuff.
Tshibanda's
"genetic
signature"
statement was
in a
prepared
speech, which
Inner City
Press is putting
online here.
Watch this
site.
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