UNITED
NATIONS, March
31 -- That the
UN often
doesn't answer
questions, and
that its chief
of
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous
outright
refuses Press
questions, is
clear,
including on
video.
But
now the UN
pretends it
answered
questions at
its briefing,
putting
into its
“Highlights”
exchanges that
never took
place.
The online
“Highlights”
of the UN's
March 28 noon
briefing
contain
responses
supposedly
delivered at
the briefing
to questions
Inner
City Press had
been asking
all week.
These
were three
questions about
UN
peackeepers'
failure to
protect
internally
displaced
people in
Darfur, about
former ruler
Bozize's
fleeing from
the Central
African
Republic,
and the UN's
hand-over of
de-mining to
the Sri Lankan
military.
The
“Highlights”
state that
“the
Spokesperson
said.” But he
didn't, at
least not at
the briefing.
Inner City
Press was able
to
ask only one
question, and
it concerned Ladsous'
stonewalling
on his
long delayed
action on 126
rapes in
Minova by the
Congolese
Army,
which he
supports.
The
question Inner
City Press
actually
asked, and
Spokesman
Martin
Nesirky's
actual
response, were
barely
included in
the
“Highlights”
-- in favor of
responses that
were not given
in the
briefing. This
is the UN.
Here's
from the UN's
transcript of
the March 28
noon briefing:
Inner
City Press: I
asked you
yesterday
about the
rapes in
Minova and
what
DPKO
[Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations]
may have done.
It is
now reported
that Mr.
[Hervé]
Ladsous
delivered a
third
ultimatum to
the Foreign
Minister of
the DRC. Is
that accurate?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Not strictly,
not strictly
the case, but
let me tell
you. The UN
Organization
Stabilization
Mission in the
Democratic
Republic
of the Congo
(MONUSCO) has
been following
up with the
Congolese
authorities on
the matter of
rapes in
Minova. The UN
Mission
continues to
press for the
need for those
who committed
these
unacceptable
acts to face
justice. On 25
March, so on
Monday, Roger
Meece, the
Secretary-General’s
Special
Representative
in the
country, met
with the Vice
Prime Minister
and the
Minister for
Defence to
hand over a
final letter.
The letter
informed the
Congolese
Government of
the
termination of
all MONUSCO
support to the
two battalions
involved in
the Minova
rapes should
no appropriate
action be
taken
immediately,
within seven
days. So, in
other words,
the support
would
terminate
within seven
days if no
appropriate
action is
taken
immediately.
On
various
occasions, UN
officials have
also conveyed
the UN’s view
on
this issue.
And that was
the case
yesterday at a
meeting here
in New
York, when
Hervé Ladsous,
the
Under-Secretary-General
for
Peacekeeping
Operations,
reiterated the
same views to
the Foreign
Minister of
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo.
Inner
City Press:
What are the
two
battalions?
Spokesperson:
You know what
the response
is there,
Matthew. We
need to wait
until
we reach that
deadline, but
I think you
have heard
what I have
had to
say about the
deadline that
has been set.
Masood? Last
question. [Video
here, from
Minute 24:56.]
But here's
from the UN's
“Highlights”
of the same
noon briefing,
with
nothing
on which FARDC
units did
the rapes in
Minova, but
instead
responses that
were
not given at
the briefing:
U.N.
NOT INVOLVED
IN
TRANSPORTING
FRANCOIS
BOZIZE FROM
CENTRAL
AFRICAN
REPUBLIC
Asked
a
few times this
week
whether the UN
Mission in the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo
(MONUSCO) or
the UN Refugee
Agency (UNHCR)
were
involved in
transporting
Francois
Bozizé or his
family members
from
the Central
African
Republic, the
Spokesperson
said that the
answer
is no; neither
were involved
in
transporting
anyone from
the Bozizé
family.
Also
asked
about an
incident in
which
internally
displaced
people (IDPs)
were taken
away by armed
men in Darfur,
and the role
of the
UN-African
Union Mission,
UNAMID, in
that incident,
the
Spokesperson
said that the
matter is
being
investigated.
And
asked about
Sri Lanka’s
Ministry of
Defense taking
over demining
activities in
northern Sri
Lanka, Nesirky
said that the
handing over
of mine action
management and
activities to
the Ministry
of Defense
is not a
recent
initiative. It
was planned
last year and
the handover
has always
been the
ultimate
objective.
There
are problems
which each of
these answers,
also e-mailed
out on
Thursday
afternoon, which
we'll try to
get into
this week
(Nesirky will
be away for
the week with
Ban Ki-moon in
Andorra, San
Marino, etc.).
But the
biggest
problem is:
none of
these answers
in the
“Highlights”
of the
briefing were
actually
GIVEN during
the briefing.
And a main
question
asked, on
March 25 and
26, who the UN
let into Inner
City Press'
office without
notice or
consent, who
took photos
and who they
gave them to,
has yet to be
answered. Video here.
This is
today's UN.
Watch this
site.
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