On
DRC, Failure
of 8+1 Leads
to Grander
Dream of 11+1,
Of Kabila
Caving
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 5 --
After the
failure in
Addis Ababa of
the UN's
political
framework for
Eastern Congo,
one expected
some public
explanation
and even
question and
answer from
the UN Tuesday
in
connection
with the
Security
Council
meeting on the
topic.
But
despite the
presence of
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
personal
envoy Susana
Malcorra and
head of
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous,
neither
did a UNTV
stakeout. Here was Ladsous' last stakeout, on
video.
It was left to
Security
Council
members to
explain what
went wrong in
Addis, and
what the next
steps are.
Inner
City Press is
informed by a
country in the
region that
even after
Ban's Eight
Plus One
format fell
apart, there
was a move to
have a
smaller group
sign.
Rwanda's
President Paul
Kagame said he
would
sign. But
Uganda's
Yoweri
Museveni, this
read out goes,
said it would
have to be a
larger group.
Now
the group has
gotten
"absurdly
large," in the
analysis of
another
Security
Council
member, to
"Eleven Plus
One." Of
what benefit
can such a
large group
be?
And why would
those who
rejected Eight
Plus One agree
on Eleven?
"Look into
what they
got in the
interim," it
was suggested.
What
is the
relation
between this
Eleven Plus
One dream,
which many
said
will be signed
by the end of
the month, and
the Kampala
talks with
the M23?
Little,
apparently.
Might the M23
end up
regretting
being
talked into
leaving Goma
when they did?
Another
Security
Council
member said,
"Kabila caved
too quickly,
and now he's
breaking
his word."
This
leaves the
issue of the
intervention
battalion, to
engage in
"peace
enforcement,"
on which UN
officials have
given
selective
anonymous
briefings --
which as
reported
caused anger
in Addis, at
the
UN and its
embedded and
compliant
correspondents.
This
is now
separated from
the Eleven
Plus One
political
framework,
tied
to the wider
mandate of the
MONUSCO
mission and to
the drone that
Herve Ladsous
has pursued
since last
year, before
he had any
approval
at all.
Watch this
site.
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