After
UN Gives
Waiver for LRA
But Not FDLR,
ICP Asks
Delattre Why
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
19 -- After
the UN
Security
Council's open
meeting about
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo and
the UN Mission
there on March
19, DRC
Foreign
Minister
Raymond
Tshibanda told
Inner City
Press that the
UN had given
waivers and
worked on
Itura and
against the
Lord's
Resistance
Army with the
two Congolese
generals it
now refuses to
support to
fight the FDLR
militia.
This give rise
to the
question, if
the UN
Security
Council says
neutralizing
the FDLR is so
important, why
is MONUSCO or
DPKO in New
York applying
a more strict
standard for
UN support to
this fight
than they did
to the fight
against the
LRA?
When UN
Security
Council
President for
March Francois
Delattre of
France emerged
after Council
consultations,
Inner City
Press asked
him just this.
Delattre's
answer, video
here, was
about the UN's
stated Human
Rights Due
Diligence
Policy, but
did not
explain why a
waiver was
sought and
granted for
the LRA fight,
and now not to
fight the
FDLR.
From the
French Mission
to the UN's
transcript:
Inner
City Press :
On the due
diligence
policy, the
foreign
Minister
Tshibanda here
said that the
two generals
had issued
that MONUSCO
had previously
worked with
them in Ituri
and on the
LRA. So, some
people are
left
wondering, if
fighting the
FDLR is so
important, why
was a waiver
given to other
fight and not
for this one ?
Despite how
important the
policy is.
What has
changed that
MONUSCO can’t
find a way to
be involved or
fight the FDLR
directly ?
A:
Here, our
understanding
is that, as
you said, this
question is
really part of
the UN human
rights due
diligence
policy. This
policy has
been in place
in DRC for
many years and
has proven its
usefulness to
ensure that
all military
operations in
DRC are
conducted in
accordance
with human
rights and
international
humanitarian
law. So we
have a
framework here
and we fully
support this
policy in DRC
and elsewhere
by the way.
Inner
City Press
began to ask
this follow-up
on the waiver
but was cut
off. While
others spin,
we will
continue with
this question
- watch this
site.
, 
