UNITED
NATIONS, April
25 -- With the
UN deploying
an
“intervention
brigade” in
the Eastern
Democratic
Republic of
Congo, which
DRC
officials say
is meant to
eliminate the
M23 rebels as
both a
military
and political
groups, who
has the UN
chosen as its
Force
Commander?
A
Brazilian
general who in
a previous UN
deployment in
Haiti in 2007
was charged
with cracking
down on the
Cite Soleil
shantytown.
He's
General Carlos
Alberto dos
Santos Cruz;
here's from The
Guardian in
2007:
“Germain
claims
his son was
killed by
peacekeepers
from the UN
Stabilisation
Mission in
Haiti
(Minustah). 'Les
blancs'
- the
foreigners -
had been
patrolling the
street in
three armoured
personnel
carriers
(APCs), he
said... 'We
want justice
for Berhens,'
said Dario
Germain's
half-brother,
Andre Ville,
holding up a
piece of
cardboard.
Scrawled on it
were the
numbers 21119,
21110, and
21121 -
the numbers of
the three APCs
near by at the
time of the
shooting.
“After
Berhens was
hit, the
armored
vehicles
parked outside
the Germain
house for
about ten
minutes. A
neighbor went
to the
peacekeepers -
he
thinks they
were
Brazilian. 'I
told them, you
have just shot
a
child,' he
said. 'They
replied: "He
was holding a
gun".'
“Brazilian
General
Carlos Alberto
dos Santos
Cruz was
appointed
force
commander
of Minustah in
January. He is
determined to
do away with
the gangs
and restore
services. 'You
cannot give in
to criminals,'
he said.
'They kidnap,
traffick
drugs, rape,
torture and
kill people.'
As The
Observer
accompanied
the general to
a UN base at
the start of a
massive
anti-gang
crackdown,
gang members
opened fire on
the UN
position. 'The
difference
between us and
the gangs,'
said General
Dos
Santos Cruz,
'is that we
have rules of
engagement.
They shoot
women
and children,
we don't.'”
But
it looks like
in this case
the UN
peacekeepers
under his
control DID
shoot a child.
Who will be
the Berhens
Germain of
Eastern Congo?
On
April 25 Inner
City Press
posed a DRC
question, as
well as
questions
on Mali,
Western Sahara
and Cote
d'Ivoire, to
the head of
the UN
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations, Herve
Ladsous. He
refused to
answer any of
the questions,
saying, “I
don't respond
to you.” Video here.
Consider
this
Ladsous memo
from 1994,
during the
Rwanda
genocide.
In
2012-13,
Ladsous covered
up for four
months 126
rapes in
Minova by
the Congolese
Army, his
partners.
Is he the
right person
to be atop
DPKO as it
starts an
“Intervention
Brigade,”
under General
Carlos Alberto
dos Santos
Cruz, in
Eastern Congo?
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
A
UN-interesting
question about
Brazilian
General Carlos
Alberto dos
Santos Cruz is
his views on
the Brazilian
policy,
announced
since
2007, of
“Responsibility
WHILE
Protecting.”
We'll see.
, 
