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On DRC, ICP Asks of Atrocity Video, Why UN Still Supports Army, Spox Says Its Only Kasai

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 20 – The UN spends more than a billion dollars a year in public funds in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, yet when massacres are documented, even filmed, the UN does next to nothing. UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous has been responsible for this inaction, in the DRC for example covering up the Army rapes in Minova, as he covered up and justified his peacekeepers' rares in the Central African Republic. What will also-French replacement Jean Pierre Lacroix do, on filmed atrocities? 

Inner City Press on February 20 asked UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq about just such a video, and why the UN continues to work with the Congolese Army. From the UN transcript:

Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you about this DRC video of summary executions by the army of civilians, including women and children.  A number of countries have spoken out, but I’m wondering, particularly given since the UN does joint operations with the… the… the DRC authorities, what steps is the UN taking to investigate the… the murders shown on the video and to see whether it, in fact, supports and works with any of the units involved?

Deputy Spokesman:  Well, first of all, we don’t provide any support to the Congolese Armed Forces in the Kasais, which is where this video applies.  All current cooperation with the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is focused on efforts to neutralize armed groups in the Eastern DRC according to the established procedures under the Human Rights Due Diligence Policy.

The Mission has requested from the DRC authorities a credible and independent investigation into the actions of the Congolese Armed Forces in the Kasais.  MONUSCO has also deployed a mobile monitoring response team in the area to investigate and document human rights violations and has reinforced its civilian, police and military engagement at all levels with the Congolese authorities to address the situation.

Inner City Press:  I guess one question I have about this is… I mean, I understand that the units are broken down by geography, but the way… the… the… the… it seems to reflect so badly on the army as a whole, the fact this would… that unarmed people would be shot in this way and that it would be filmed and circulated in the way that it was that I’m wondering, at what point is… is the… is the human rights due diligence only triggered by the specific unit that does something, or is there, in fact, command responsibility given, like, could there be commanders in Kinshasa in charge of not only the units in Kasais but also, to some degree, the units in the east and their failure to… to… to train, investigate, or discipline would… would trigger loss of support?

Deputy Spokesman:  Well, as I just mentioned, that’s why we requested… even though we don’t cooperate with the Congolese Armed Forces in the Kasais, we have requested from the DRC authorities a credible and independent investigation into the Congolese Armed Forces’ overall action in the Kasais.

Regarding the video, obviously, it shows very shocking footage of killings and executions of civilians by uniformed personnel.  The Mission is looking into verifying the source of the video and identifying whether it is linked to the recent events in the Kasais.  This video is one piece of information among many that we’re looking into in connection to the spate of incidents that have taken place in Kananga in the past days.

  We'll have more on this.


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