On
DRC, 1 Country
Pushed Back
5:30 Vote,
ICP's Told
It's US,
On Outside
Support
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 20 --
After Goma
fell to the
M23 mutineers
without
the UN's
MONUSCO
mission doing
anything, at
the Security
Council on
Tuesday France
let it be
known they
wanted their
draft
resolution to
be voted on by
5:30 pm. They
describe their
resolution as
demanding
that the M23
"disband,"
which seems
unlikely.
But
after a closed
door 3 pm
meeting on
Gaza broke up,
French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud
confirmed that
"one country
has invoked
the rule
of twenty four
hours;" he
said that
meant the vote
could be put
off until 2 pm
on Wednesday.
Inner
City Press
asked US
Ambassador
Susan Rice, as
she left the
Council,
"What about
DRC?"
Ambassador
Rice
replied,
"We're working
on it," then
continued up
the
stairs.
Searching
wherever
possible for
information on
this, well
placed
Security
Council
sources say
the "one
country" is
the United
States,
on several
bases: that
the references
to outside
support have
not
been proved,
and questions
about
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
appointing
some new
envoy.
Another
concern raised
to Inner City
Press is
that Troop
Contributing
Countries
should be
further
consulted on a
change of
mandate.
More
generally,
just as the
Security
Council's
Gaza process
involves
waiting to see
what happens
with the
ceasefire
talks in
Cairo, on the
DRC there's a
move to wait
and see what
is
agreed in
Kampala, where
DRC President
Kabila, with
whom Ban
Ki-moon
has not
spoken, is
meeting with
Uganda's
President
Museveni and
Rwanda's
President Paul
Kagame.
The
UN's role in
the DRC has
increasingly
been one of
failure. UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous has
refused to
answer "who
broke the
ceasefire"
between the
M23 and the
Congolese army
FARDC. He
directed his
spokesperson
to tell UN
staff to keep
the
stakeout
microphone
away from
Inner City
Press when it
asked this
question on
Saturday,
November 17.
The
next day
another DPKO
spokesman told
Inner City
Press that who
broke
the ceasefire
was just "a
distraction."
No, it's a
factual
question, that
still hasn't
been answered.
After
the fall of
Goma, on
November 20
Inner City
Press asked
Ban Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey, who made
the decision
for MONUSCO
to not fight,
and when?
Del
Buey replied,
"the Force
Commander on
the ground
decides what
is
best for
safety of
civilians, if
to risk a
firefight or
hold fire"
or "make sure
you are
observing and
keeping
records."
Given
the billions
of dollars
spent on
MONUSCO and
MONUC before
it, one
should be able
to expect more
than "record
keeping."
To
many it is not
credible that
this decision,
this glaring
failure of
the UN, was
left up to the
force
commander on
the ground.
M23 had
been advancing
on Goma, this
time, since at
latest
November 15.
It
pulled back
and gave an
additional 24
hour.
So
where was UN
Peacekeeping
chief Ladsous?
Since he won't
answer Press
questions, why
not a video
briefing by
Ban's DRC
envoy Roger
Meece or
the force
commander Del
Buey was
referring to?
The UN put
Meece on a
video
teleconference,
belatedly,
after UN
inaction on
the mass rape
in Walikale.
Why not now?
Watch this
site.
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