By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 26 --
During the French-led
UN Security
Council trip
in October to
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo, a
staffer of the
UN's MONUSCO
mission there
"speaking to
reporters"
expressed
"surprise at
Washington's
decision
regarding the
Democratic
Republic of
Congo, which
last year
signed an
action plan
with the
United Nations
to stop and
prevent
recruitment of
child
soldiers.
'There have
been huge
results...
They don't
recruit
children any
more. There's
been zero
tolerance,'
she said."
On November
26, Inner City
Press asked
Leila
Zerrougui,
Special
Representative
of the
Secretary-General
for Children
and Armed
Conflict, if
she would be
surprised if
the DRC Army
is again found
with child
soldiers by
the UN Group
of Experts, as
it was in
April 2013.
Zerroughui
said she
couldn't not
say that would
not happen.
One thing is
said in
Kinshasa; in
the provinces
it is
different.
Then what was
MONUSCO
talking about,
back in October,
"they don't
recruit
children any
more"?
This
is called
going-local,
or even, the
Stockholm
syndrome. Why
would a child
protection
officer be so
effusively
praising a
host
government
which the UN's
own Group of
Experts most
recent report
of June shows
still involved
with child
soldiers?
Inner
City Press
asked for the
transcript -
and got
something
quite
different.
First,
here's from
the UN's own
most recent
Group of
Experts
report, which
Inner City
Press obtained
and then exclusively
put online as
credited by,
for example,
the BBC:
149.
The Group is
also
investigating
cases
involving the
illegal
detention and
use of
children for
military
purposes by
the FARDC.
According to
FARDC and
MONUSCO
sources as
well as local
authorities in
the Kisala
area of
Butembo
territory,
between
February and
April 2013,
FARDC’s 1032nd
Battalion
arrested four
boys aged
between 15 and
17 on charges
of belonging
to the Nyatura
rebel group.
An FARDC Major
subsequently
enlisted three
of them as
cooks, while
assigning the
fourth to be a
soldier in
Mushaki with
the 106th
Regiment
commanded by
Col. Civiri.
150.
In April,
UNICEF
separated 19
children from
the FARDC
812th Regiment
located at
Camp Bobozo in
Kananga, in
Kasai
Occidental
province. The
Regiment had
rotated from
North Kivu to
Kananga in
March, and had
forcefully
recruited the
children
before their
departure from
North Kivu.
Four soldiers
from this
Regiment
acknowledged
to the Group
that they had
been aware of
the presence
of the minors
(commonly
referred to as
‘kadogo’) in
their ranks.
In April,
UNICEF
separated two
minors (one of
them a girl)
from the same
Regiment; both
had been
forcefully
recruited.
Since
what Reuters
-- hand
picked by
colonial
powerhouse
France to
accompany and
document
what's become
known as
France's
Genocide
Joyride --
quoted MONUSCO
staffer Dee
Brillenburg
Wurth as
saying in
October
contradicts
the UN's own
Group of
Experts
report, Inner
City Press
began asking
that a
transcript of
what she "told
reporters" be
made public.
Inner
City Press
asked at the
UN noon
briefing --
not for more
spin, but for
a transcript
of what Dee
Brillenburg
Wurth said:
Inner
City Press: I
wanted to ask
you about the
trip, there
seems to have
been a
briefing by a
MONUSCO
(United
Nations
Organization
Stabilization
Mission in the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo)
staffer, Dee
Brillenburg
Wurth, in
which she is
quoted as
saying that
the
[Democratic
Republic of
the Congo],
doesn’t
recruit
children,
child soldiers
any more. This
is contrary to
the Group of
Experts
report, which
says in at
least two
paragraphs
that they do.
It was "said
to reporters,"
is
it possible to
get a
transcript or
some audio
file of what
was said? And
what would you
say to a
seeming total
disparity
between what
MONUSCO told
reporters, if
not the
Council, and
what UN
reports
actually say
about the
recruitment of
child soldiers
by [the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo]?
Spokesperson:
Well, I mean,
I wouldn’t say
anything at
this point
until I check
into it
myself,
Matthew.
Two
days later on
October 9,
rather than
any transcript,
this was sent
to Inner City
Press:
Subject:
Your
question on
the DRC
From: UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at] un.org
Date: Wed, Oct
9, 2013 at
3:18 PM
To:
Matthew.Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
Concerning
your
question on
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo and
recruitment of
child
soldiers, we
have the
following:
“In
October 2012,
the Government
of the
Democratic
Republic of
Congo and the
United Nations
signed an
Action Plan to
halt and
prevent the
recruitment
and use of
children, in
addition to
sexual
violence
against
children, by
the national
armed forces
and security
forces. The
Congolese
government is
currently
implementing
it. There is
consistent
progress in
the
implementation
of the action
plan.
The
FARDC now
systematically
separates
child soldiers
from its
troops and
hands them
over to
UNICEF,
amongst other
organizations.
Progress has
also been made
in the
facilitation
of access for
the United
Nations to
national armed
forces
battalions and
detention
centres,
resulting in
the separation
and
reunification
of
approximately
340 children
with their
families."
The
phrase, "we
have the
following" is
unclear -- who
is "we"? It's
certainly not
the UN Group
of Experts,
charged with
actually
investigating
these topics.
Was this..
from Herve
Ladsous, whose
non-responsiveness
was picked up
by the UN New
Statesman,
here?
Was it
from
Zerroughi? On
November 26,
when pressed,
she did not maintain,
as MONUSCO
did, that DRC
"does not
recruit
children." So
why did
MONUSCO say
that?
Footnotes:
On November
26, Inner City
Press after
thanking
Zerroughui on
behalf of the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access asked
her to also
provide an
update on
Central
African
Republic, what
the UN is
doing. We
continue to
await that.
Meanwhile
Third
Committee
moves said to
be against
Zerroughui's
office and its
mandate remain
murky, but we
continue to pursue
that story,
too. Watch
this site.
, 
