UN
Confirms
Malcorra Met
M23, ICP Scoop
and Question,
By Mass Email
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Follow Up to
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 28 --
While UN
official
Susana
Malcorra
traveled to
the Great
Lakes region
last weekend,
sources told
Inner City
Press, she
went to Goma
and met M23
leader Sultani
Makenga.
Inner
City Press exclusively
reported this
on Wednesday
morning, also
asking French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud
if France
supported
Malcorra
meeting with
M23.
Araud told
Inner City
Press with a
smile, "There
is no question
of supporting,
she has
already done
it."
Also, it
emerged that
Malcorra
claimed that
in her visit
to Makenga in
Goma she saw
weapons
indicating
external
support.
"Since when is
she a guns
expert?" Inner
City Press quoted an
attendee.
"These are
just DPKO
talking
points."
At
Wednesday's
noon briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey to
confirm
Malcorra's
meeting with
M23, and to
respond to
those,
including in
the Council,
who questioned
on what
authority she
did it.
Del Buey said
he did not
have the
information
but would
check.
Now at 3:38 pm
on Wednesday,
the UN has
send out a
mass e-mail:
From:
UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[or] un.org
Date: Wed, Nov
28, 2012 at
3:38 PM
Subject: Note
to
Correspondents
--on questions
concerning the
Chef de
Cabinet’s
travels to the
Great Lakes
region
To:
undisclosed
recipients
Note
to
Correspondents
On questions
concerning the
Chef de
Cabinet’s
travels to the
Great Lakes
region
Given the
Secretary-General’s
personal
commitment
finding a
sustainable
solution to
the current
crisis in the
Eastern DRC
that ensued
following
renewed
fighting
between the
Congolese
armed forces
and M23
rebels, he
sent his Chef
de Cabinet,
Susana
Malcorra, to
the region as
his personal
emissary to
maintain
contact and
dialogue with
key actors.
With the
agreement of
the leaders of
the DRC,
Rwanda and
Uganda, Ms.
Malcorra met
Sultani
Makenga, the
head of the
military wing
of the M23, to
convey the
Secretary-General’s
concerns about
the
deteriorating
humanitarian
situation as
well as
reported human
rights
violations. In
this capacity
she encouraged
him to stop
the fighting
and pursue his
objective
through
political
dialogue and
lay down the
arms.
Ms. Malcorra’s
mission was to
engage
regional
actors and
assess how the
United Nations
could best
assist in
addressing the
crisis in the
DRC and, in
the short
term, to
leverage the
Secretary-General’s
Good Offices
and his vision
to contribute
to a cessation
of hostilities
to enable the
necessary
political
process to
unfold.
New York, 28
November 2012
As of 4:10 pm
on November
28, Google
News indexed
only one story
mentioning
Malcorra and
Makenga: the
morning exclusive
of Inner City
Press. The
same was true
in Google.fr,
in French.
Then the
second
"Malcorra
Makenga" story
was this one,
reporting the
UN's
confirmation
of Inner City
Press' scoop.
The
UN's 3:48 mass
disclosure was
made the day
after UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous, who
did not go to
Kampala or the
region,
briefed the
Council along
with Malcorra
and then
refused to
answer any
Inner City
Press
questions.
Instead, as we
reported at
the time,
Ladsous led a
group of
favored
correspondents
to the hallway
next to the
stakeout and
spoke only to
them. Inner
City Press
filmed it,
from the
stakeout as it
is allowed.
Did he speak
of Malcorra's
visit with
M23?
On Wednesday,
when Ladsous
left the
Council with a
Permanent Five
member's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative,
Inner City
Press asked,
"Should
Malcorra have
met with the
M23?" We'll
have more on
this. Watch
this
site.
, 
