On UN
Report of
Peacekeeper
Rape in Congo,
Ladsous' DPKO
Says Nothing
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 7, updated
-- Sexual
abuse by the
UN Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations,
now under
Herve Ladsous,
has not
stopped.
Now, however,
DPKO cannot
even muster up
a response to
outrageous
reports,
including one
public not for
at least four
days.
Inner
City Press at
the August 7
noon briefing
asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
about the
study by Dr.
Victoria
Fontan of the
UN-mandated*
University for
Peace in Costa
Rica, finding
that
"In
February,
2011, two
orphans,
Gisele, then
14, and her
sister
Esperance, 15,
were attacked
by five
soldiers,
three from
MONUSCO and
two from the
Congo's
notoriously
undisciplined
and brutal
army. While
the Congolese
were beating
Gisele,
Esperance was
gang raped and
beaten by the
three white
MONUSCO
soldiers. She
was both badly
injured and
pregnant. Last
October,
Esperance gave
birth by
cesarean
section. Her
son died two
days later."
Nesirky
said
that UN is of
course aware
of the report,
and that if
DPKO or
the MONUSCO
mission "have
anything to
say, then
we'll let you
know." Video
here, from
Minute 16:20.
How
is this
acceptable?
DPKO is aware
of this
report, public
for at
least four
days, of three
MONUSCO
"peacekeepers"
gang
raping two
underage
Congolese
girls. And
there is a
question about
whether DPKO
under Ladsous
will have
anything to
say?
Have the three
DPKO
"peacekeepers"
been
investigated
or are they
still out in
the field --
perhaps at
Hotel Uvira?
Inner City
Press reported
on UN leisure
in Uvira while
accompanying a
Security
Council trip
to the Kivus
and elsewhere.
Now it has
gotten worse
-- under Herve
Ladsous.
Ladsous,
as
reported,
refuses
to answer any
questions
from Inner
City Press.
Responding to
this is,
however, his
job. Watch
this site.
* -
Rather than
any
substantive
response from
DPKO, the
response so
far has been
to argue that
the University
of Peace has
nothing to do
with the UN.
But its
website says
"the United
Nations-mandated
University for
Peace was
established in
December 1980
as a Treaty
Organization
by the UN
General
Assembly."
, 
