UN
Raises Minova
Rape Count to
126, Ladsous
Won't Name
Units
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 18 --
The number of
rapes by
Congolese
forces in
Minova,
covered up and
stonewalled by
top UN
Peacekeeper
Herve
Ladsous, rose
on Tuesday to
126 rapes,
between
November 20
and 30. So far
a grand total
of two
Congolese
soldiers have
been arrested.
Inner
City Press on
December 18
asked the UN,
is that
enough? And
what will
be done?
On
November 27,
Inner City
Press asked
Ladsous, what
about the
rapes at
Minova?
Ladsous
refused to
answer, and
went so far as
to summon
favored
correspondents
into the
hallway, video
here.
(None wrote of
the rapes
that day or
next.)
On
December 7,
Ladsous again
refused to
answer,
this time
Inner City
Press'
question about
how Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
supposed
Human
Rights Due
Diligence
Policy would
apply to those
FARDC units
involved in
the rapes.
Ladsous'
Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations has
refused to say
which units
were in Minova
-- Inner City
Press, based
on sources in
Minova, has
named the 802
Regiment and
1001 Regiment
-- and has
refused to
list
which FARDC
units it works
with, and has
ever suspended
support to.
Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
continued this
refusal on
Tuesday,
saying
again and
again it is
under
investigation.
But DPKO knows
which units
it has used
public money
to support.
And they have
refused to say
it.
Here
is
a French
language
profile of
Ladsous, from
Billets
d'Afrique,
even
before his
refusal to
answer on
Congolese army
rapes. But
his Minova
stonewalling
is a new low,
and would seem
to require
action. Watch
this site.
, 
