In
DRC,
UN Deploys
Attack
Helicopters,
Tanzanian in
UN Brigade
Killed
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 28 --
Now the UN in
the Congo is
using attack
helicopters
and
"delivering"
mortar and
artillery
fire, UN
spokesperson
Farhan Haq
announced at
Wednesday's UN
noon briefing.
Inner
City Press
asked if the
UN was doing
this in
support of the
Congolese
Army, and if
so in support
of which units
of that Army
-- since two
units, the
391st and 41st
Battalion,
were
implicated in mass
rapes in
Minova and
the former in corpse
desecration.
Haq
refused to say
which units of
the Congolese
Army FARDC the
UN is
supporting,
but said that
the so-called
Human Rights
Due Diligence
Policy is
being
implemented.
How could
anyone know?
If the UN is
hiding which
units it
supports?
The
problem goes
beyond the
391st and 41st
Battalions -
other FARDC
units
are named in
the most
recent UN
Group of
Experts
report, the
full
text of which
Inner City
Press
exclusively
put online.
At that time,
Inner City
Press asked
all four
spokespeople
for UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous to
answer if the
named units
receive UN
support.
An answer was
promised --
after checking
with MONUSCO
-- then none
was provided.
On
Monday August
27 Inner City
Press asked if
there had been
any MONUSCO
casualties and
was told by
spokesperson
Farhan Haq,
"none to
report." On
August 28 Haq
read out that
the
"MONUSCO
Force,
including the
Intervention
Brigade, is
supporting the
FARDC
military
operations.
MONUSCO is
supporting the
FARDC defence
line,
has delivered
mortar and
artillery fire
and engaged
its attack
helicopters.
The FARDC has
used attack
helicopters,
battle tanks
and
ground forces.
The operation
is still
ongoing. We
have just
learned
that one
MONUSCO
peacekeeper
has been
killed. Three
others have
been
wounded."
Later
on Wednesday
UN
Peacekeeping
specified the
nationality,
and envoy
Martin
Kobler's
outrage, which
some noted did
not include
the
previously
used term, war
crime. Inside
the UN, an
expert has
explained to
Inner City
Press the term
war crime cannot
properly used
with regard to
a combatant,
to a party to
an
armed
conflict.
Rest in Peace.
Martin
Kobler,
Head of
MONUSCO,
strongly
condemns
killing of UN
Peacekeeper
by M23
Kinshasa,
28
August 2013 –
A Peacekeeper
was killed on
28 August as
the M23
directed
artillery fire
on a United
Nations
position close
to Kibati
heights north
of Goma. The
attack
occurred as
MONUSCO
supported
action by the
FARDC to push
the M23 off
the heights
from where
they
have been
shelling Goma.
“I
am outraged by
today’s
killing of a
United Nations
Peacekeeper
from
Tanzania by
the M23”, says
Martin Kobler,
Special
Representative
of
the
Secretary-General
and Head of
the United
Nations
Peacekeeping
Mission in the
DRC. “He
sacrificed his
life to
protect
civilians
in Goma. My
thoughts go to
his family and
all members of
his unit in
this very
difficult
moment."
As
said, Rest in
Peace. We
maintain that
UN
Peacekeeping,
if its stated
Human Rights
Due Diligence
Policy is to
have any
meaning and be
able
to be
assessed, must
release which
Congolese Army
units it is
supporting.
Watch this
site.
, 
