As
M23 Took
Rutshuru in
DRC, UN Says
Copters Help
Impede, $1.3B
for What?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 9 -- The
UN Mission in
the Congo has
a "protection
of civilians"
mandate, but
apparently did
very little
when the
M23 mutineers
led by Bosco
Ntaganda took
over Rutshuru
and, almost,
Goma. This
comes while,
as noted, the
MONUSCO
mission costs
$1.3
billion a
year.
Nor
has
it been clear
what MONUSCO
under former
US Ambassador
Roger Meece
thinks of
M23's claims,
which date
back to March
23, 2009.
So
on
July 9 Inner
City Press
asked Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman
Eduardo
DelBuey what,
in fact,
MONUSCO has
been doing.
He told Inner
City Press to
"ask DPKO."
But since DPKO
chief Herve
Ladsous has
said openly
that, due to
critical
coverage, he
will not
answer any
Inner City
Press
questions, starting
with cholera
in Haiti and
Ban Ki-moon
getting advice
from alleged
war criminal
Sri Lanka
general
Shavendra
Silva,
even DelBuey
must have
realized this
was a referral
into the void
(or, le
neant).
And
so
some minutes
later came
this UN
answer, which
we publish in
full:
Subject:
Your
question on
MONUSCO
From: UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at]
un.org
Date: Mon, Jul
9, 2012
To: Matthew
Russell
Lee [at]
innercitypress.com
Regarding
the
protection of
civilians in
towns taken by
M23, MONUSCO
says that
it has
provided
strategical
operational
planning and
logistical
support to the
Congolese
Armed Forces
to help
counter the
offensive
by the M23.
The Mission’s
armed
helicopters
have been used
in terms
of civilian
protection
with the
intention of
impeding the
advance of
the M23, in
close
coordination
with the
Congolese
Armed Forces.
The
Mission is
redeploying
its assets to
ensure it is
present in key
forward bases
and is working
closely with
the Congolese
Armed Forces
regarding the
protection of
key population
centres in
North Kivu.
Those
UN
helicopters
don't seem to
have had much
effect. And
the UN still
hasn't
answered Inner
City Press'
question from
last week
about the
FARDC soldiers
chased into
Uganda and
detained
there.
As noted,
these
developments
in the Congo
where the UN
has a huge now
controversial
peacekeeping
mission did
not show up in
any of Ban
Ki-moon's
read-outs with
foreign
minister in
Toyko over the
weekend, not
even
that of
Pakistan which
is the
peacekeeping
presence in
South Kivu.
Watch this
site.
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