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Amid Congolese Chaos, NGOs Are Split on Nkunda,
FDLR and Camouflage for UN Mission
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
November 27 -- As the UN Security
Council is rethinking its peacekeeping mandate in the Congo, four
non-governmental organizations came to brief the Council and the press
with the
true facts from the field. There was however a problem: they still did
not agree
about what should be done.
Inner City
Press asked the four groups to state
their position on three central issues. Should Congo's president Joseph
Kabila
be pressured to speak
with rebel Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda? Should the UN
peacekeepers, as their North Kivu commander has suggested, shift from
bright
white vehicles to camouflage,
to engage Nkunda's troops? And what should be
done with the Hutu militias of the FDLR --
should they be attacked, repatriated
to Rwanda, or relocated within the Congo and if so, where? Video here,
from Minute 25:18
Sue Mbaya
of World Vision spoke first and by far clearest. She said that "all
active
parties" should be part of negotiations. By this she meant, it emerged
on
continued questioning, not only Nkunda but the FDLR. Few others agree
with this
position, but it is courage in its way. As some NGOs will say, but only
off the
record, the FDLR fighters of today were mostly not involved in the 1994
genocide in Rwanda. They are, if anything, the children of
genocidaires. The
sins of the fathers, is the phrase that comes to mind.
World
Vision Mbaya opposed the UN shifting to offensive action, saying it
would only
further confuse the local population. Human Rights Watch, at least
through its
Africa director Georgette Gagnon, offered ringing rhetoric but no
direct
answers to the three questions above.
HRW's Gagnon, with US in the back, responses like other NGOs not shown
Oxfam's
Charles Manpasu, on the other hand, said that what is needed is a force
to make
belligerents stop abusing the civilians.
Inner City Press asked, by any means necessary? He
did not disagree. He
said that while MONUC's current Chapter Seven mandate technically
allowed the
peacekeepers to attack Congolese national army (FARDC) soldiers who
attacked
the population, the peacekeepers often do not to this.
In fact, UN peacekeepers recently handed over
23 individuals demanded by FARDC fighters, as later admitted by the
UN's Alan
Doss. Video here.
Also
disagreeing with World Vision was the representative of Global Witness,
who offered
the reminder that many of the parties are guilty of war crimes and
should not
be legitimized. She spoke about nature resources, an issue Inner City
Press
later took up with the Belgian Foreign Minister, Karel de Gucht. Video here.
We will have more on this.
Click here for Inner City
Press Nov. 7 debate on the war in Congo
Watch this site, and this Oct. 2 debate, on
UN, bailout, MDGs
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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