On
Burundi, ICP
Interviews
Targeted
Journalists
About UNSC
Visit, Suggestions
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 21 --
After UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon on New
Year's Eve
issued a
statement
praising the
Burundi
“talks” held
in Entebbe,
Uganda,
multiple
sources told
Inner City
Press these
not really
talks but
rather a photo
op. The
January 6
session
announced for
Arusha did not
happen.
Inner City
Press
requested to
cover the
UNSC's trip to
Burundi, but
was
UNtransparently
rejected.
On
January 21
Inner City
Press learned
both of Pierre
Nkurunziza
plans to
parade
"community
work" for the
Security
Council
members on
January 22 and
has been
provided with
a letter
promoting
same, here.
Here
now are parts
of an Inner
City Press
interview with
a journalist
attacked by
the Nkurunziza
government and
for that
reason
anonymous:
In English:
"It would be
better if the
Security
Council met
for example
UPRONA leader
Nditije
Charles, with
the
non-governmental
branch of the
UPRONA party)
or his
Spokesman
Thacien
Sibomana. The
Council should
try to meet
civil society
but
there is
almost no one
left to really
speak with now
in Bujumbura.
All those
still in
Bujumbura,
they can't say
anything about
the abuses of
authorithies.
If it was
possible, they
should ask to
meet the young
men in prison.
They should
see themselves
how the
government
abuses those
young men,
with
tortures...
Tell them
visit to the
prisoners in
Gitega (those
who are
accused to
attempting a
coup d'etat)
UN has the
right to visit
prisoners."
Inner
City Press
note: another
source says
"the
government
moved several
detainees from
the SNR jails.
I highly doubt
they'd allow a
visit to
detainees."
More, in
French:
"Oui, ils ont
déjà mobilisé
beaucoup de
personnes
(jeunes,
femmes, taxis
velos et taxi
motos pour
aller
accueillir the
UNSC pour leur
montrer qu'il
y a la paix et
qu'ils n'ont
pas besoin de
force de
maintien de la
paix. Ils
manipulent la
Population sur
base de
menaces comme
quoi celui ou
celle qui
n'ira pas au
rassamblement
sera considéré
comme ennemi
national.
malheureusement
c'est ce
qu'ils ont
fait depuis
des années."
Tellingly,
IWACU reports
that bike taxi
and motorcycle
taxi drivers
offered money
to protest in
favor of
Nkurunziza
weren't, after
the fact,
paid: here.
At the January
21 UN noon
briefing,
Inner City
Press asked UN
deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq
about the
"community
works" and
meeting(s). Video here, UN
transcript
here:
Inner City
Press: I
wanted to ask
you this just
because I'm
trying to
cover it, and
I know that
you'd said
yesterday that
the Special
Adviser, Jamal
Benomar, is in
Burundi in
part of the
trip. So
what I wanted
to ask you is,
I've seen
documents that
show that the…
the… the…
tomorrow, the
meeting with
the President,
[Pierre]
Nkurunziza,
will involve a
demonstration
of “community
work”, i.e.,
people have
been asked to
go and I don't
know if it's
to show how
happy they are
— Gitega and
Karuzi.
Does the
Special
Adviser… not
the Security
Council, does
the Special
Adviser of the
Secretary-General
believe that
this type of…
of… of show is
the right one
and will they
be meeting
with UPRONA
and other
opposition
groups or
prisoners
currently in
jail?
Deputy
Spokesman
Haq:
Well, we'll be
able to
provide
details of the
meetings once
they've taken
place.
As you know,
the
expectation is
for the
members of the
Council to
meet with
President
Nkurunziza.
That hasn't
happened so
far, but once
that's
happened,
we'll see what
the
circumstances
are and what
the views of
Mr. Benomar
are.
This is
reminiscent of
the type of
dog-and-pony
show Sri
Lanka's then
President
Mahinda
Rajapaksa put
on for
visiting UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon and
that Inner
City Press accompanied
and covered
(apparently
not to the UN's
and its allies'
liking -
it has been
Banned from
trips since.)
But will the
UNSC, unlike
Ban, have the
fortitude or
leverage to
reject a dog
and pony show?
Watch this
site.
On January 19
at the UN,
Inner City
Press asked
Uruguay's Vice
Minister for
Foreign
Affairs Jose
Luis Cancela,
chairing the
Security
Council debate
on Protection
of Civilians,
about Burundi
and the
Council's
trip. Video
here.
On
January 21,
Inner City
Press and the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access asked
UK Permanent
Representative
Matthew
Rycroft about
his stop-over
on Addis
Ababa, "will
you as UK meet
with AU before
heading to
Burundi? About
AU's proposed
deployment?"
Rycroft replied,
"Yes! Looking
forward to
meeting
@AU_Chergui
today. Will
also return to
Addis with
whole UNSC
after
Burundi."
In
Addis,
Chergui had
filed the
Concept of
Operation for
the MAPROBU
peacekeeping
mission. We'll
have more on
this.
Burundian
civil society
has written to
Ban seeking
the
repatriation
of the
country's
peacekeepers.
Inner City
Press has put
the letter
from Vital
Nshimirimana
to Ban online
here, and
will be asking
the UN about
it. Watch this
site.
On
December 30
Nkurunziza
threatened to
have his
forces attack
peacekeepers
proposed for
the country.
On
December 16
Inner City
Press was
banned from
questions to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, but
learned from
the mission
MINUSCA that
Baratuza was
already in
Entebbe. Inner
City Press
asked several
Security
Council
members, then
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric on
December17.
Dujarric told
Inner City
Press
Baratuza's
deployment is
suspended and
he is being
repatriated:
"based on the
information
we've received
regarding the
Lieutenant
Colonel, his
deployment has
been
suspended, and
he will be
repatriated
back to
Burundi." Video here. Dujarric told Inner
City Press
this shows the
UN system
working - on a
day when a
report on
rapes was
issued showing
UN
Peacekeeping
under Herve
Ladsous not
sufficiently
vetting for
human rights.
We'll have
more on this.
Amid the
escalating
killings in
Burundi, last
weekend's
summary
executions in
neighborhoods
opposed to
Pierre
Nkurunziza's
third term
stand out. But
Burundi Army
spokesman
Gaspard
Baratuza was
quoted on
December 12
blaming all of
the deaths on
attempts to
steal weapons
to free
prisoners.
Inner City
Press had
heard that Mr.
Baratuza was
already in the
process of
being deployed
to the UN
Peacekeeping
mission in the
Central
African
Republic
(MINUSCA) even
when he was
giving these
quotes,
issuing
statements and
speaking to
state-owned
radio, and so
asked
MINUSCA's
acting
spokesperson,
“Is Gaspard
Baratuza of
Burundi's army
getting a
MINUSCA job?”
On
December 16,
hours before
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon held a
rare press
conference,
MINUSCA's
acting
spokesperson
sent this to
Inner City
Press:
"To:
Matthew.Lee
[at]
InnerCityPress.com
From: Vladimir
MONTEIRO [at]
UN.org
Date: Wed, Dec
16, 2015
Subject: ICP
question:
Gaspard
Baratuza of
Burundi's army
getting a
MINUSCA-related
post?
Cc: FUNCA [at]
funca.info
"No decision
related to Lt
Col Baratuza's
deployment can
be taken
before we
finish looking
into the
matter. We can
confirm that
Lt Col
Baratuza is in
Entebbe but he
has not yet
deployed to
MINUSCA.
Regards. VNM"
There are some
questions
about
Baratuza, a
Colonel in
Burundi's
Army, being
listed by the
UN as “Lt.
Col.”
Despite
multiple
follow-up
questions by
Inner City
Press, Mr.
Monteiro -
previously a
spokesperson
for the UN
electoral
mission in
Burundi -
replied that
“This is what
we can say
about this
issue.”
But the UN
should have to
say more.
Inner City
Press has
repeatedly
asked the UN
how its
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
under Herve
Ladsous vets
those who
deploy to UN
missions;
Inner City
Press exclusively
reported
on an October
1, 2015
meeting in
which Ladsous
told Burundi's
Vice President
Joseph Butare
that he is
“pragmatic” on
human rights.
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