|
UN in the Congo, Burning and Looting and Failing to
Follow Through, Dodging on Evidence
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
October 3 -- As insurgencies mount
in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, most notably the one led by rebel
general Laurent Nkunda, the UN appears to have no plan, no follow
through, no
exit strategy. The UN's top envoy in the Congo, Alan Doss, briefed the
Security
Council then the Press on Friday, denouncing statements attributed to
Nkunda
that all Congolese should rise up and fight.
Inner City
Press asked what had
happened with the Indian peacekeeping under Doss' command who had been caught
on tape praising Nkunda and his forces. We referred Colonel Saroha
to the
Indian authorities, Doss said, adding that he did not know what had
then been
done. It seems important, now that the UN is denounced Nkunda as the
peace
spoiler.
Inner City
Press also asked what progress the UN Mission, MONUC, has made in
repatriating
or relocating the fighters of the FDLR.
Doss admitted that progress has been slow, and made
more difficult by
the upsurge in fighting. If we clear an area of other fighters, he
said, and
the FDLR move in, what have we accomplished. Nothing, is the answer.
Doss in Goma with Clooney and Kouchner: where are they now?
Doss has
not received the drone aircraft to told Inner City Press and others
about
during the June
2008 Security Council visit to Kinshasa and Goma. MONUC
premises and forces are repeatedly been rioted against. One wag
listening to
Doss' answers couldn't help comparing it to the U.S. in Iraq at one
point. (Even the UN's
own News Service led with Doss asking for "surge" in the Congo,
like Bush's surge in Iraq.) But
with the Kabila government happy to receive support, now military
support as well
as targeted International Criminal Court indictments against Kabila's
enemies,
from the international community, who will blow the whistle and say it
is not
working in the Congo?
Inner City
Press asked Doss about MONUC's sharing of information with the
Prosecutor of
the ICC. Mishandling this issue has led to the freezing of the case
against
militia leader Thomas Lubanga for child soldier recruitment. What has
MONUC
learned? Doss said it is all done through the UN's Office of Legal
Affairs. But
when new OLA chief Patricia O'Brien spoke to UN correspondents in New
York, the
session was limited to treaty signings.
In light of Doss' comments, another briefing by OLA
is needed. Success
has many parents, but with failure, there are no parents, and no
briefings.
Footnotes: Inner
City Press' sources also say that
efforts are afoot to further cut back on compensation to national
staff, for
example those working for MONUC. Great
planning...
Finally, there clearly are
well-meaning staffers within and helpin MONUC. And Doss spoke of
positive developments in South Kivu. But the trend and performance are
generally negative, hence this report.
Watch this site, and this Sept. 18 (UN) debate.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-453A, UN, NY 10017
USA
Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's mobile (and
weekends):
718-716-3540
Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright
2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com -
|
