UN
Exposed Supporting Congo Criminals In 2010, Secret List, Using
Haiti as Defense
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March 9 -- The UN and its Mission in the Congo have been
caught in a web on contradictory statements by and about Congolese
warlord Innocent Zimurinda.
In
October, UN
special rapporteur Philip Alston charged Zimurinda with
responsibility for mass rape and murder. On December 16, Inner City
Press asked
MONUC boss Alan Doss about the UN's logistical support to
Zimurinda's units.
"We've
set up
a procedure," Doss said, "as needed we will suspend
support." Video here,
from Minute 4:09. Doss claimed that UN
support through the Kimia II operation to all Congolese units, not
only Zimurinda's, was being ended in 2009.
Now
Zimurinda has
been quoted
that support continued into 2010; his deputy Dieudonne
says that the UN is still willing to support
Zimurinda's units. Inner
City Press asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky to respond to
Zimurinda's interview and explain Doss' December 16 claims.
Nesirky
began by
disputing that it was "just an interview" by Zimurinda. He
spoke about the wider Washington Post article,
saying it gave "an
inaccurate impression." He claimed that the support Zimurinda's
units got in 2010 has already been "in the pipeline" and
couldn't be stopped. Video here,
from Minute 55:02.
Even
if one
accepted this, why didn't Doss disclose it in December?
UN's Doss in the Congo, Zimurinda not shown or disclosed
Doss was and
is under fire for nepotism, having been exposed by Inner City Press
urging the UN Development Program to show him "leeway" and
give his daughter a job. To escape pressure, Doss claimed that the
problematic support to Zimurinda was ending in 2009. But that turns
about to be false.
Even
now, the UN
and MONUC split hairs. The Washington Post reports that even for the
new Amani Leo operation -- the Post puts it in the future, but it has
already quietly began -- two units of Zimurinda's command are on the
list to receive UN assistance. Nesirky claims not. Inner City Press
asked top peacekeeper Alain Le Roy to disclose which 18 battalions
the UN will support. Video here.
Le Roy said he would
look into if that could be done, implying he saw no reason why not.
I'm sure Mr. Le Roy
will answer your question, Nesirky to Inner City Press, adding
acerbically of Le Roy that "today he's had other things on his
mind." The reference was to Tuesday morning's memorial service
for UN staff who died in the Haiti earthquake. Nesirky cited to this
to explain Le Roy's or the wider UN's lack of response.
Nesirky
also told a
journalist his questioning of the UN in Haiti was "unfair."
The UN's top envoy to Haiti Edmond Mulet, when asked about the
condition and soundness of the Christopher Hotel, for which the UN in
Haiti paid $94,000 a month in rent, said that he didn't know about
the inquiry into the building's soundness, he was other things to
worry about.
Some
thought
playing the Haiti earthquake trump card to cut off or not answer
questions was distasteful. But the misstatements on the UN working
with war criminals in the Congo is even worse. Watch this site.
* * *
UN's
Doss Won't Explain His Support of War Criminals, Playing Out the Clock
in Congo
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, December 16 -- The head of the UN Mission in the Congo Alan
Doss, under fire for assisting and covering up war crime by former
rebel units of the Congolese Army, tried to defuse the critique on
Wednesday by renaming the so-called Kimia II operation. While the UN
said its Mission will now only "hold ground" in Eastern
Congo, Doss' testimony to the Security Council acknowledged MONUC
will still "undertak[e] focused interventions" -- that is,
targeted strikes.
MONUC
works with
units of the Congolese army which the UN's own experts as well as
human rights groups say are war criminals. Inner City Press asked
Doss, directly, why he has continued to work with Colonel
Innocent
Zimulinda (a/k/a Zimurinda), accused for murder and rape by UN
rapporteur Philip Alston and illegal mining by the UN Experts.
Doss
did not answer
why he continues to work with Zimurinda. Inner City Press asked about
a list of 15 presumptive war criminals in the Congolese Army that
MONUC itself drew up and gave to the Joseph Kabila government, but
whom MONUC still supports. While saying it is the government's role
to discipline, Doss did not explain why he continues to work with the
unit commanders on his own list of human rights violators.
Similarly,
when
asked about the leaked UN Office of Legal Affairs memos, two of which
Inner City Press has put online,
Doss claimed that the memos offer
opinions that MONUC had to put into practice. But the memos say Doss
should have had a policy much earlier on, and should suspend support
to whole operations with violations, which he has not done.
Doss
himself is
the subject of a nepotism
investigation that will be the subject of a
separate article.
Alan Doss, OLA memos, Zimurinda, nepotism answers
not shown
But sources in MONUC describe his leadership as
compromised, and say that the UN investigation is being drawn out
until Doss leaves, perhaps in March. Human rights groups favor new
leadership, circulating the names of former peacekeeping chief Jean
Marie Guehenno among others.
While
the Council
is now considering a resolution which would extend MONUC's mandate
for only five months, Inner City Press is informed that permanent
member China, which now has a large mining and infrastructure deal
with Joseph Kabila, was urging a mere "technical roll over."
Others blame Doss' support of human rights violators on the push by
his native UK, as well as the U.S., to destroy the FDLR rebels at any
cost. We will have more on this.
* * *
UN
Violates Law in Congo, Leaked UN Legal Memo Shows, Doss on Grill in NY
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, December 13 -- What are the consequences if the UN violates
international law, as defined by the UN's own Office of Legal
Affairs? The question is now squarely raise by an October 2009
memorandum to the UN Mission in the Congo (MONUC) from chief UN legal
office Patricia O'Brien, obtained by Inner City Press and published
online here.
In
the October
12
memo, marked "Priority Confidential" and addressed to top UN
peacekeeper Alain Le Roy, MONUC's policies
for providing assistance to the Congolese army (FARDC) are found to
violate international law. Specifically, MONUC's policies, then and
now, do not provide for suspending assistance to operations of the
FARDC in which laws are violated, but rather only partial suspension
to particular units.
OLA
notes that
MONUC, even in the cases (so far only one) in which is suspends
assistance to a particular unit, might just increase support to other
units in the operation. Before publishing this memo, Inner City Press
asked UN Spokesman Martin Nesirky for an answer, and received a three
paragraph UN Peacekeeping response which does not even address OLA's
critique of the lack of a policy for initiating support to an FARDC
operation.
The
UN's own Special
Rapporteur on extra judicial execution Philip Alston has
noted that MONUC worked with - and continues to work with - units
under Colonel Zimulinda, which he charges with murder and mass rape.
These
decisions are made by the chief of MONUC Alan
Doss, embroiled
since the summer in a nepotism scandal in which as exposed by
Inner
City Press he asked the UN Development Program to show him "leeway"
and give his daughter a job, in violation of applicable rules.
Doss
is scheduled
to be in New York from December 14 on, to brief the Council -- but
perhaps hide from the Press -- on December 16. In the interim there
will be press conferences about among other things MONUC's violations
of international law under Doss' tenure. Watch this site.
In Congo, UN's Doss under fire, legal violations not shown
As
noted, Inner
City Press before publishing this October 2009 OLA memo asked the UN
about reports its own Office of Legal Affairs advised MONUC not to
work with units of the Congolese army involved in these and other
crimes. The response:
Subj:
your question on the DRC
From:
unspokesperson-donotreply [at] un.org
To:
Inner City Press
Sent:
12/10/2009 1:33:20 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
I.
The tasks carried out by MONUC are determined by the Security
Council. The mission has a mandate to provide support to the
Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) in disarming illegal armed groups
while protecting the civilian population. MONUC continues to give the
highest priority to protection of civilians.
II.
In furtherance of this mandate, MONUC and DPKO requested advice from
the Office of Legal Affairs regarding the conditions governing their
collaboration with the FARDC. In full transparency, the Secretariat
and the Mission advised the Security Council of the risks involved
and potential consequences of cooperating with the FARDC. The
Security Council has repeatedly expressed their unanimous support for
MONUC and for the joint operations with the FARDC against the FDLR,
with full respect for International Humanitarian, Human Rights and
Refugee Law.
III.
After extensive consultations between the Secretariat the Mission and
OLA, a policy was developed, setting out the conditions under which
the Mission would support FARDC. This policy was transmitted to the
DRC Government in November. It specifies that all MONUC participation
in FARDC operations must be jointly planned and must respect
international humanitarian law, human rights and refugee law. The
policy also includes measures designed to improve FARDC performance
as well as to prevent and sanctioning violations. This
'conditionality' provision is why the Mission suspended support to a
specific FARDC unit believed to have been involved in the targeted
killing of civilians in the Lukweti area of North Kivu.
But
this response
does not address the October 2009
memo, which says that MONUC should
have had a policy before begin to support FARDC operations, and
should suspend assistance to entire operations, rather that
particular unit. Watch this site.
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