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UN As Defense Attorney for
Lord's
Resistance Army, Erasing LRA Even From Transcript, Francophony Notes
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at
the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, March 29 -- Some
fifty
five children have been abducted in the Central African Republic,
by nearly all
accounts by the Lord's Resistance Army, even while the LRA is part of a
UN-backed peace negotiations with Uganda's government. On
Friday at the UN, Inner City Press asked
Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson, who had mentioned the Central African
Republic but
not the mass hostage-taking in her opening remarks, about the
abductions,
noting that they had been validated by a local UN team. The
spokeswoman, in a
statement visible
on video but not included in the UN's transcript of the
briefing, asked "what do you mean by validating?" and quickly stated
that the team "could not identify" if the perpetrators were "LRA
combatants." Click here
for video, from Minute 18:19, and compare to
transcript, here,
and below, with no mention of LRA.
Later
on Friday, Inner City Press asked Abdou Diouf, Secretary-General of the
International Organization of La Francophonie, who had said he
discussed the
CAR with Ban Ki-moon, if the abductions by the LRA had come up. Mr.
Diouf
appears surprised, asking "the LRA, are they not in Uganda?" Video
here,
from Minute 13:35. Clearly, Ban Ki-moon while discussing the CAR did
not
mention the kidnapped children. Presumably, CAR only arose because of
its
proximity to Darfur, despite the problems in the CAR.
As
it turns out, the UN in the CAR capital Bangui on Friday morning issued
a
report pointing the finger at the LRA -- but when the Agence France
Presse ran
it, they received a call from the UN's Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, disclaiming the report, claiming it had
been issued
"under embargo," and asking that the link to the LRA be retracted.
News analysis:
Why would the UN at the
highest levels -- OCHA chief John Holmes was said to be involved, or
was at
least cited, in the policy switch -- put so much energy into protecting
the
likely perpetrator of these abductions? The most benign explanation is
that the
UN wants peace, and so wants to make sure that a hasty identification,
or even
any identification at all of perpetrators, does not undermine the peace
talks,
slated to culminate in Juba on April 5. Skeptics go further, and say
that the
UN is so desperate for seeming "wins" around the world such as UN
envoy Chissano's involvement in Juba that it is willing to cover-up the
abduction and reported rape of children. Even under the benign
explanation, why
was the kidnapping of 55 children, surely worse than other things
denounced
from the UN podium on March 28, not even mentioned, until it was asked
about?
The questions will continue.
Kony and the since-killed Otti
Footnote one:
While OCHA's John Holmes'
name was invoked to seek retraction of reports linking the abductions
to the
LRA -- whose ICC-indicted
leaders Holmes' predecessor Jan Egeland visited --
Holmes had the day previous been besieged by General Services-level
OCHA staff,
complaining of the UN's stratified system which blocks promotion from
the G to
the Professional level. Holmes promised to do something. We'll see.
Footnote two: The BBC's report
has, as a sidebar, an
OCHA quote trying to exonerate the "Real" LRA of Joseph Kony: "'We
cannot confirm it is official LRA - it could be a dissident branch,'
Jean-Sebastien
Munier, Ocha." But there *is*
no Mr. Munier -- his name is Munie...
Footnote three:
Inner City Press also asked
Abdou Diouf, Secretary-General of the International Organization of La
Francophonie, to comment on whether the chief peacekeeping post of
Jean-Marie
Guehenno should go to a French national or, rather, a Franco-phonite,
perhaps
from Africa. Diouf replied that he'd read "in a newspaper on the way
here" that France is proposing it own candidate. In other Francophony
news,
still unanswered by the UN Spokesperson's Office is a question posed on
March
25 to Farhan Haq of that office:
"There
are Panasonic
flat-screen TVs installed by the cafeteria and in the upstairs of the
Delegates' Lounge, both tuned to France 5 -- I've been told that at
least the
one in the Delegates' Lounge cannot be tuned to any other channel.
Question:
were these Panasonic TVs given to the UN, and if so, were any
restrictions or
suggestions attached thereto? Same question on the Samsung TVs,
including
the one on the third floor, if the EOSG played any role in getting
these TVs."
When we
finally get answers -- we've waited four days as of this writing --
they will
be reported on this site.
Below is the UN's transcript,
with no
mention of LRA, compare to actual video,
here --
Inner City Press: There's a
report of 55 children being abducted in the
Central African Republic and it seems that some local UN team has
validated
this. Seems pretty serious?
Spokesperson: Has
validated it?
Inner City Press: It says here
that a team of UN investigators visited
the remote area around Obo in the country’s south-east region and
concluded
that the Obo officials were powerless to protect these people. It
said
that it was the Lord’s Resistance Army in the Central African Republic
abducting 50 children.
Spokesperson: What do you
mean by validating it? Confirming
that there was an abduction, yes.
Inner City Press: And
they're still abducted.
Spokesperson: As far as
we know, yes.
Inner City Press: And
what’s the UN’s next step?
Spokesperson: They’re
working on it. That's all I can say.
See above. And watch
this site.
* * *
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
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