On
DRC Trip,
Despite UN
& French
Blackout, ICC
Debated,
Opposition
Ignored
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 4 --
With the UN
Security
Council
delegation in
Kinshasa
dining tonight
with that
city's
diplomatic
community and
officials of
the UN Mission
MONUSCO, at UN
Headquarters a
vague
summary of
their first
meeting was
given.
Inner
City Press
asked UN
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
for more, to
say what
topics
were discussed
with the EU's
Political and
Security
Committee.
Nesirky, whose
Office
and France "in
consultation"
rejected
Inner City
Press to
accompany the
trip, now
twice advising
Inner City
Press to "ask
Council
delegations."
Well,
we have. And
while some
have yet to
explain why,
it appears
that
unlike on
Syria the
Security
Council will
not meet with
any
opposition in
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo.
Back
in Brussels
with the
EUPSC, Inner
City Press is
informed that
the
discussion was
almost
entirely about
the DRC, that
the Kampala
Talks
with the M23
should be
concluded and
PSC Framework
implemented,
that
Security
Sector Reform
should be
pursued in
other to allow
development
projects.
One
would think
this vaunted
Security
Sector Reform
would include
action
on the 41st
and 391st
Battalions
implicated in
135 rapes in
Minova in
November 2012,
with the
US-trained
391st being
implicated
since in
the
desecration of
corpses. We'll
wait to hear
from Security
Council
members on
that.
While
it is
sometimes true
that a picture
is worth a
thousand
words,
tweeted photos
of the UN
Security
Council's
meeting with
the EUPSC
don't show
that the
International
Criminal Court
came up, and
that it
was
counter-explained
that the ICC
is
increasingly
controversial
in
Africa.
This was clear
from speeches
(and no-shows)
at the UN
General Debate
in New York
last week. But
it seems some
int the EUPSC
didn't
understand it.
To
many, the ICC
is viewed as
politicized,
not only
because of its
over-focus on
Africa but
also because
it dispenses
victor's
justice.
Were are the
prosecutions
of the
supporters of
Ouattara in
Cote
d'Ivoire? Of
extremists
among those
who overthrew
Gaddafi?
Similarly
politicized,
in many's
view, was the
US
announcement
just as the
trip
began of child
soldier
recruitment
penalties on
Rwanda. These
are
denied, as to
the Rwandan
military.
Meanwhile for
example Chad's
Army
is on the UN's
list of child
soldier
recruiters --
and was
accepted
by UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous into
the UN's Mali
mission
MINUSMA.
Did HRW speak
out against
that, and
Ladsous? We'll
have more
on this. Watch
this site.
, 
