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In
DRC, Will M23
Deal Be
Signed, Will
FDLR Be 2d or
Mixed with
Mai-Mai?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 6 --
After the UN
Security
Council met
Wednesday
behind closed
doors about
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo,
Inner
City Press
asked French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud
if France
expects the
DRC to go
forward and
sign an
agreement or
accord with
the M23.
Araud
replied that
the DRC is now
hesitating,
but told Inner
City Press to
ask the UN and
its
peacekeeping
mission.
Minutes
earlier, UN
spokesperson
Farhan Haq
told Inner
City Press the
UN still
expects an
agreement to
be signed. So
which is it?
Meanwhile
while
Araud at the
stakeout said
that there was
agreement that
the UN
Mission
MONUSCO must
now go after
the FDLR
militia,
sources in the
meeting tell
Inner City
Press that
some tried to
mix the FDLR
in with
other militias
like the Mai
Mai. The FDLR
should be
second, they
said. It seems
some others do
not agree.
Inner
City Press
asked the DRC
Permanent
Representative
about the 135
rapes
in Minova by
the Congolese
Army,
Battalions 41
and the
US-trained
391st
Battalion. He
replied that
MONUSCO is
reporting on
these -- in
fact, the UN
has repeatedly
told Inner
City Press to
"ask the
Congolese
authorities,"
as it tried on
Wednesday.
Inner
City Press
followed up,
it has been
almost a year
since the
rapes,
last November
20. The DRC
Permanent
Representative
said the case
is
ongoing. We'll
see.
Araud
said if the UN
Force
Intervention
Brigade in DRC
is a test of a
new
approach for
UN
Peacekeeping,
this should be
reviewed,
perhaps at a
retreat. Next
stop would
seem to be
Mali, where
France insists
it
will leave in
January,
leaving the
UN's MINUSMA
behind.
For
a longer
analysis of
this trend in
UN
Peacekeeping
by this
author, on
BeaconReader.com,
click here.
From
the French
Mission to the
UN's
transcript:
Inner
City Press: Is
it France’s
expectation
that the
government of
the
DRC would
actually sign
an agreement
with the M23 ?
Also what do
you
make of
Ambassador
Power’s
proposal of
having a
court, some
kind of
domestic or
international
court. She
said in a
statement
yesterday
that there
should be no
impunity.
Would you
support such a
court and
should it
apply also to
the Minova
rapes units of
the DRC army
or
only to M23 ?
Amb.
Araud: As for
the proposal
of the court I
don’t have any
idea
because I did
not hear about
it. So I
cannot respond
to this part
of
the question.
For
the first part
of the
question,
there won’t be
a signing.
What I
understand
from what
Martin Kobler
explained, the
idea is not
the
signing of an
agreement but
there will be
a sort of
document. I
understand
that both
sides don’t
accept now the
idea of an
agreement. But
there should
be a sort of
understanding
which could be
agreed between
both sides.
You have to
ask more
precisely the
question to
Martin Kobler,
to the
Spokesperson
of MONUSCO
because it
appears there
are some
hesitations on
the side of
the DRC
authorities,
now that the
rebellion
movement has
been crushed,
to
sign a sort of
agreement
between
equals. But at
the same time
the DRC
authorities
have
reaffirmed
they will
behave in good
faith for
reconciliation.
* * *
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