UN
Stonewalls 40
Hours Before
DRC Deadline,
UK Cheers, US
&
France Silent
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July
30 -- Forty
hours before
the deadline
the UN has set
to
begin
offensive
military
action in
Eastern Congo,
the UN has
still
not answered
basic
questions such
as whether the
Geneva
Conventions
apply to it,
or which units
of the
Congolese Army
it will be
supporting.
The
UN Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations has
had months to
answer
these
questions.
Twenty four
days ago, DPKO
told Inner
City Press it
would provide
an answer
about whether
it was
supporting
Army units
depicted
engaged in
abuses in the
UN Group
of Experts
report the
full
text of which
Inner City
Press exclusively
put
online in June.
But no
answer. This
is what
DPKO has
become under
Herve Ladsous,
compilation
video here.
Where
is the
oversight? At
the US State
Department's
briefing on
Tuesday,
no question
was asked
about the
Congo, or
about the
United Nations
at
all -- despite
US Acting
Assistant
Secretary of
State for
International
Organization
Affairs Dean
Pittman
traveling to
Kunming,
China, to
discuss
Security
Council issues
and UN
Peacekeeping
with
other P5
members.
The
UK had an
Africa expert
tweeting in
support of
MONUSCO's
threats,
with no
reference to
its failure to
answer basic
questions.
French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud,
when Inner
City Press asked
what law
applies
to MONUSCO,
said he would
check with his
legal experts
and get back.
Now he is
apparently out
of town
himself,
having missed
Monday's
Syria session
in the General
Assembly.
The
French mission
has not
responded to
whether it
believes the
Geneva
Conventions
apply to
MONUSCO and
its
Intervention
Brigade. Herve
Ladsous is the
fourth
Frenchman in a
row to head
DPKO, and
represented
France in the
Security
Council during
the 1994
Rwanda
genocide,
arguing for
the esacpe of
genocidaires
into Eastern
Congo.
This will be
on them.
Jump-cut
to
Tuesday's
UN noon
briefing,
video
here,
after the
MONUSCO
mission had
announced its
ultimatum.
Inner City
Press asked
Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesperson
Eduardo Del
Buey:
Inner
City Press: I
wanted to ask
you about what
you’d
announced of
MONUSCO, this
announcement
they’ve made.
Essentially,
it seems to
say that if
groups don’t
disarm in 48
hours, they’re
fair game to
be attacked,
so I wanted to
ask you some
questions that
have kind of
built up, that
haven’t been
answered. One
is: which of
the units
of the
Congolese army
MONUSCO will
be supporting,
since they
have
this human
rights due
diligence
policy and a
number of
units are
named in the
Group of
Experts
report? 24
days ago, I
asked DPKO
[Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations]
which units,
now I want to
ask before in
this 48-hour
period, which
are the units
they’d
support,
whether it
includes the
391st
battalion,
which did the
Minova rapes
and
desecration,
and also
whether
MONUSCO itself
is
covered by the
Geneva
Convention, as
it now,
basically,
declares
war... says in
advance that
they will
undertake
offensive
actions.
Deputy
Spokesperson:
I’ll have to
check on those
two questions
for you,
Matthew.
Inner
City Press:
Given that it
was 24 days
ago that it
was asked, is
it
possible to
get an answer
in the next 48
hours?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, all we
can do is try.
We’ll try.
Inner
City Press:
Right. Do you
think… does
the
Secretary-General
think,
given this
unprecedented
change in
approach by UN
peacekeeping,
that
to have the
policy of due
diligence mean
anything, they
have to say
which units
they support?
That’s the
question.
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, we have,
I believe, not
said anything
about that
yet and when
we have
something, we
will.
Inner
City Press:
Right, but I
mean, not said
which units
you support.
That’s what
I’m asking.
It’s like
you’re just
saying…
Deputy
Spokesperson:
When we have
something,
we’ll let you
know, Matthew.
Inner
City Press: Do
you think it
will be before
they start
shooting guns?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
I can’t
predict what’s
going to
happen. My
crystal ball
is covered in
smoke. [Video
here]
Seven
hours after
that briefing,
the UN and its
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations had
not answered
any of the
questions.
Watch this
site.
, 
