On
DR Congo, NYT
Misreports M23
Looting of
Goma Bank, UN
Role in Minova
Rapes
By
Matthew
Russell Lee, Media
Critique
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 16, updated
-- Everyone's
jumping in the
Congo, at
least in
print. Today's
New York Times
runs a joyless
six travelogue
by
Jeffrey
Gettleman,
from mass rape
to mashed up
fruits on the
reporter's
windshield.
The call seems
to be for
truly robust
"peacekeeping"
like in
Somalia, where
Kismayo was
shelled
by a navel
force never
authorized or
paid by the UN
Security
Council.
But
a telling
mistake jumped
out at Inner
City Press:
Gettleman
simply
reports
as fact
that the M23
"clean[ed] out
the central
bank" in Goma.
This had been
reported by
the NYT's
UK-based
competitor The
Guardian,
citing an
unnamed UN
official.
But
when Inner
City Press
asked the UN
in New York
about it, the
following
came back:
From:
UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at] un.org
Date: Mon, Dec
10, 2012
at 2:05 PM
Subject: Your
question on
the Central
Bank of Goma
To:
Matthew
Russell Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
On
the Central
Bank in Goma:
We checked
with DPKO. The
UN mission
reports that
the Central
Bank in Goma
was not
attacked.
This
answer, once reported,
gave rise to
Twitter back
and forth in
which
some argued
that it didn't
matter, since
M23 "looted"
other
things.
(Taking a
losing army's
weapons is
pretty
standard, and
not
necessarily
looting.)
This
is not even
mentioning the
UN's
role in
enabling and
covering up
Kabila's
fraudulent
elections,
which we
touched on
yesterday,
here.
Nor
does
Gettleman's
tale of rape
mention the UN
role --
standing by in
Walikale,
which gave
rise to angry
public words
from the
diplomat of
the moment,
Susan Rice,
then standing
by again in
late November
as
more than 70
women were
raped by
Joseph
Kabila's
forces in
Minova.
The
UN Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations and
its chief
Herve Ladsous
have refused
to answer the
Press on which
FARDC units
were in Minova
at the time
(we've named
the 802 and
1001
regiments),
nor even which
units the UN
works with and
supports.
In this way,
it is
impossible for
the public or
press --
except perhaps
insiders to
whom Herve Ladsous will speak, if only in
the hall,
video here
-- to assess
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
supposed Human
Rights Due
Diligence
Policy.
But
none of this
is as snarky
or dramatic as
fruits smashed
on a
windshield or
corpses in the
bush.
So
what to do?
Inner City
Press, rare
for it, sent
in a comment /
letter to the
editor at the
times, making
the Central
Bank of Goma
and UN
Peacekeeping
points. Five
hours later,
even as much
newer comments
beginning
"great
article!" were
put up, there
was no sign
of the
critique.
Was
this because
the New York
Times
distinguishes
between
corrections
like on the
Central Bank
of Goma, and
opinion? Their
online comment
page says
"Comments are
moderated and
generally will
be posted
if they are
on-topic and
not abusive."
So
was it abusive
to point out
an error? To
test this,
Inner City
Press
resubmitted
the comment
without
anything on
the Central
Bank of Goma,
only that the
New York Times
went too easy
on the UN.
Then,
five hours
after
submission,
the comment
went up.
But will the
mis-report of
M23 looting
the Central
Bank in Goma
be corrected?
Watch this
site.
, 
