As
UN Helps
Recruit DRC
Militias, All
Roads Lead to
Ladsous, Who
Won't Answer
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 23 --
The UN seems
to have hit a
new low in the
Democratic
Republic of
Congo,
assisting the
government to
recruit
dubious Mai
Mai militias
to join forces
to fight the
M23 mutineers.
Inner City
Press asked
Ban Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
about
it on
Thursday, but
all he said
was "ask
DPKO," the
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations.
But
DPKO chief
Herve Ladsous
has said
openly, twice
on camera,
that he
will not
answer any
Inner City
Press
questions. Video
here,
at Minute
28:10.
Ladsous
spokesman
Kieran Dwyer
reiterated
this in
writing,
and on camera.
Video
here,
Minute 6:50.
So
does this
mean no answer
to Press
questions
about DPKO,
the UN's main
presence
in the world?
There
are other DPKO
questions: can
the Darfur
mission, so
often slow on
the draw,
confirm or
deny the
killing of 11
soldiers in
Darfur?
What
does the UN
Mission in
South Sudan
think of Ted
Dagne having
to flee
Juba after
writing about
corruption?
What
about the
reporting
killing of
civilians in
Kismayo,
Somalia by the
Kenyan Navy,
as part of the
UN assisted
(and funded)
AMISON
"peacekeeping"
mission?
In
the past,
Inner City
Press would
ask such
questions at
the noon
briefing, and
then later get
an e-mailed
response from
the Office of
the
Spokesperson.
For example,
on the
reported
killing of
civilians
in Eastern
Congo by
Ladsous' (and
Roger Meece's)
MONUSCO
mission,
this belatedly
came in:
Regarding
your
questions
about the
threat to
civilians in
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo, we
can say the
following:
The
clear and
foremost new
danger to
civilians in
North Kivu has
been
posed by the
armed mutiny
of the M23
movement, and
its conduct of
offensive
military
operations.
MONUSCO
has
engaged its
troops, as
necessary, in
defence of
communities
and
population
centers
targeted by
these military
operations,
and to
impede M23
actions
threatening
them. In doing
so, the
Mission takes
extensive
efforts to
ensure minimal
additional
risk to
civilians and
to avoid harm
from MONUSCO
actions.
There
is no evidence
to date,
directly or
from partners,
of civilian
casualties
resulting from
MONUSCO
actions in
connection
with the M23
offensives.
The Mission
would
investigate
credible
reports in
this
regard by all
means
possible.
Concerning
claims by the
M23 movement
of civilian
casualties as
a result of
MONUSCO
actions, the
Mission
has followed
up and has
found many
inaccuracies
in the dates
and
places given
by the M23 of
MONUSCO
actions.
At
first, after
Inner City
Press
published the
name of a
reported
victim, the UN
replied that
it couldn't go
investigate
because it was
too dangerous.
Now it says it
"would
investigate
credible
reports." So
was no
investigation
every done?
Ladsous
should
be asked. But
would he
answer?
In
other
UN-answering
news, an open
letter to the
UN from the
genocide
survivors'
organization
Ibuka,
complaining
about the
writings on
the
FDLR of UN
"expert" Steve
Hege, has not
been responded
to.
Watch this
site.
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