Inner City Press: Investigative Reporting from the United Nations

On DRC, UN Underplays FDLR Biggest Child Recruiter, LRA Upsurge, Chair Quote

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 13 -- On the Democratic Republic of the Congo Inner City Press on May 5 and May 6 asked the spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon about threats against opposition candidates Moise Katumbi. The spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said the UN Peacekeeping mission controlled by USG Herve Ladsous has no mandate to protect candidates. Vine here.

Ladsous, as Inner City Press has reported and exposed, argued in 1994 for the escape into DRC of the genocidaires who would make up the FDLR. See sample memo here. Now the UN's DRC Sanctions Group of Experts underplays -- but still mentions -- the FDLR; the issue is further whitewashed by Ladsous' interlocutors. Below are direct quotes from the report; here is a quote from the Sanctions Committee chair, when Inner City Press staked out the meeting (while its long time office was being given away to a scribe rarely present, a former UNCA President, more on that to come) -

Amr Abdellatif Aboulatta to Inner City Press: “There is a recommendation about this, to address Rwanda. But of course the recommendation needs to be more discussed in the committee. Rwanda, they do not approve this, they say we just help refugees."

Here are direct quotes from the DRC Group of Experts reports obtained by Inner City Press, not reported elsewhere:

"MONUSCO's Child Protection section told the Group that the FDLR was the biggest recruiter of children in armed conflict; the section separated 2,055 children in 2015, 891 of whom reported they had been with the FDLR."

But selective reports on this don't even mention to FDLR.

The Group of Experts say that an FDLR representative named Robert Kayembe is funded from both France and Belgium. This too, goes unreported.

The Group of Experts says the FDLR also generates income through "extortion, looting, kidnapping for ransom and the sale of gold."

The Group found an upsurge in Lord's Resistance Army activity in Bas Uele - but again, unreported, as was the Congolese Army FARDC working with the UPDI armed group (Paragraph 80).

Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric on May 13, UN Transcript here:

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Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.