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Congolese
Doctor Says UN Witnessed, Contributes to Rape, Lumo Shows Pol Blaming
Women
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, May 31 -- The pandemic of rape of women in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo has many complex causes but these include the
United Nations, according to Doctor Roger Luhiriri of the Panzi
Hospital in Bukavu in Eastern Congo.
At a panel discussion in lower
Manhattan on May 31 after the screening of the documentary film
"Lumo" at Tribeca Cinemas, Dr. Luhiriri said that the
outrages he has seen in the much-lauded hospital where he works are
"the shame of the UN Mission," MONUC. Inner City Press
asked him for an explanation and for his suggestions for the UN.
Doctor
Luhiriri noted that "at first MONUC was an observer mission,
then they sent troops." Still, he said, "17,000 troops are
incapable of Congo's crimes and sexual violence?" He gave an
example, saying the rebel General Laurent Nkunda and one of his
colonels mutinied in Bukavu and, in presence of the UN, his group
engaged in rape.
"All were present," he said, adding that
"the UN contributes to rape in Eastern Congo, it has changed
from a mission of peace to a mission war, a shame for the UN."
UN Security Council members at HEAL Africa, Lumo not
shown
The
film "Lumo" is now two years ago, but has lost none of its
luster. The director told the audience what has happened since. Lumo
required another surgery, her sixth. Her village, Masisi, was overrun
by rebels and she fell out of touch. Now she works for a halfway
house in Masisi, and also runs a sewing business on the side.
The
UN Security Council visited Goma and HEAL Africa last month during
the Council's annual trip to the Continent. On Monday, Inner City Press
asked Burkina Faso Ambassador Michel Kafando, who's been the HEAL,
about Lumo, the film and woman. He knew of neither, but raised HEAL -
Africa's hospital.
In June 2008, Inner City
Press accompanied the Counicil on its trip, thought Djibouti, Sudan,
Chad and to the Congo, where a UN security officer shot a hole in the
UN plane. There the Council met the officials of the Governor of
North Kivu, whose representative in Lumo says that rape happens due
to how the women dress.
In the audience in New York, people hissed at
the comment. In Congo, MONUC apparently does nothing, but rather
continues to work with the governor and his officials. And so it
goes...
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In
Sudan, Nepali APCs Grounded Due to UK Trainers, UNMIS Strike Averted
by Dollars
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, June 1 -- The complexity of the UN's presence in Sudan was
on display at UN Headquarters on May 29. In a press conference on the
international day of peacekeepers, UN official Alain Le Roy and
Susana Malcorra were asked about a range of UN - Sudan issues. The
real answers, at least as regards grounded peacekeeping police in
Darfur, were given after the press conference.
Inner City Press asked
Ms. Malcorra to explain why a unit from Nepal of more than 100 police
were in Darfur while their armored personnel carriers are stuck in
Port Sudan. Previously, the UN told Inner City Press vaguely that it
was a training issue, that the Nepalis had to go to the Czech
Republic for training on the APCs they'd bought.
But Friday, after
Malcorra and Le Roy had both said that the Nepali APC problem was
being solved by training, Inner City Press was told by a UN official
who asks that his name not be used that initially the Nepalis had
shown up with British trainers on how to use the Czech APCs. But
Sudan, he said, did not let the British trainers in, thereby causing
a waste of money and police power in Darfur.
UN's Le Roy in Sudan, British APC trainers not shown
Inner City Press asked,
why wasn't this foreseen? Why did the UN contract with Nepal for APCs
they didn't know how to use, and trainers from a country whose
Ambassador to the UN has said he didn't go to Sudan because then he'd
have to meet a war criminal, the president? We can't tell TCCs
[Troop Contributing Countries] which nationality of trainer to bring,
the UN official said. If the UN mission is supposed to be saving
people, why not?
Inner
City Press asked Ms. Malcorra to confirm or deny that the UN's staff
in the UNMIS mission in South Sudan are or were in the verge of going
on strike. Malcorra to her credit confirmed it, explaining that due
to a lack of Sudanese currency, the UN had been paying the staff in
U.S. dollars.
Then, the UN reverted to Sudanese currency without any
advance notice, and the staff rebelled. The UN has gone back to
dollars for this month and next, she said, but the UN cannot
"continue with hard currency" now that there's enough
Sudanese currency in the area. Who knew?
Of
Mr. Le Roy, Inner City Press asked for a comment on Sudan's complaint
that the spokesman for UNAMID in Darfur improperly disclosed the
location of Sudanese troop fighting an incursion from Chad by the
Justice and Equality Movement. Le Roy countered that part of the UN's
mission is to report on facts on the ground, they'd just gotten it
wrong in this instance. But why then is the UN so resistant to
reporting on or even confirming casualty figures in Sri Lanka?
Going further than Mr. Le Roy did when Inner City Press asked on May
10, Ms. Malcorra on May 29 said that the UN will begin publishing on
its web site at least how many peacekeepers were in fact disciplined
by the country after charges of sexual abuse or exploitation. We'll
see.
Le Roy also went further than on May 10 in saying that on the
case of the 27 Nigerian peacekeepers given life sentences for their
complaints against not getting paid for their UN service, he will
raise it in Nigeria next month. Malcorra said she would look into the
case of a female Nigerian peacekeeper who has alleged being pressures
for sex while in UN service, as raised by the Guardian's
correspondent. Malcorra also said she will read a study about how air
transport companies involved in illegal arms running are also used
for peacekeeping. We'll see. Watch this site.
Footnote:
one question that couldn't get asked or answered on May 29 is whether,
as Russian sources say, there was a split between the Department of
Political Affairs, as it is run, which wanted the name "Abkhazia,
GEORGIA" in the Secretary-General's recent report, and DPKO which was
fine with just the numbers of the applicable Council resolutions. This
question, about splits among UN Under Secretaries General, should be
answered. Watch this site.
Georgia
Accuses Russia of "Blackmailing" UN on Abkhazia, Ban's 2nd Term
Mentioned
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, May 27, updated May 28,
DPRK
draft here -- Russia "blackmailed" the UN Secretariat
of Ban Ki-moon into changing Mr. Ban's report on Abkhazia, Georgia's
Ambassador to the UN Alexander Lomaia told the Press on Wednesday.
Inner City Press asked if he meant that Russia threatened to veto the
resolution to extend the mandate of the UN observer mission there, or
as many have speculated threated to veto a second term as Secretary
General.
Ambassador Lomaia said he has heard that, but that the
threat he knows of "first had" is to veto the resolution to
extent the mission's mandate, set to expire on June 15. Video here,
from Minute 25:39.
Since
the conflict of last August in which, after Georgia sought to retake
to frozen conflict zones, Russian recognized as independent both
Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Russia has urged changes to the name of
the "UN Observer Mission in Georgia," UNOMIG. To Russia,
these areas are not longer Georgia. Therefore, according to Lomaia,
Russia walked out of the talks on the areas in Geneva, until the UN
re-titled its report.
Lomaia
mentioned Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's visit with Ban
Ki-moon on May 11 as part of the "pressure of Russia on the
Secretariat." Video here,
from Minute 13:19. After Ban Ki-moon
wouldn't call Kosovo's breakaway from Serbia illegal, rumors
circulated that Russia was threatening to veto Ban's future bid for a
second term. Since then, Ban's position on Kosovo was become more pro
Serbian and Russia, and now the report on Abkhazia [Georgia] is
renamed. Lomaia called it blackmail. Only two journalists asked
questions.
Georgia's Lomaia, who says UN's Ban's Secretariat was "blackmailed" by
Russia
Inner
City Press asked about the unrest in Georgia, and also whether the
country recognizes Kosovo's declaration of independences. Lomaia,
whose predecessor Irakli Alasania is now a major opposition figure,
said that Georgia respects the rights to free speech. On Kosovo, he
said as he had to that Georgia does not recognize Kosovo's
independence. When Inner City Press pointed out that on this,
non-recognition of Kosovo, Georgia has the same position as Russia.
Lomaia scoffed. He said that unlike Georgia's, Russia's commitment to
sovereignty and territorial integrity is selected.
Comparative
analysis: Given Russia's support of the Abkhazians' and South
Ossetians' breakaway from Georgia, Russia's decided opposition to
independence aspirations by Tamils in the northern part of Sri Lanka
is striking. Russia focuses on the LTTE as terrorists, and anaogizes
to Chechnya or the terrorist taking of the school in Beslan. Georgia
claims that Abkhaz and South Ossetians engaged in ethnic cleansing,
but does not use the word terrorism. Selectivity is everywhere. Watch
this site.
Diplomatic
footnote: after a by-invitation only briefing at the US Mission
to
the UN Wednesday afternoon, unrelated
wire
service
stories
were published quoting unnamed... "U.N." diplomats that an agreement
in principles on
sanctions against North Korea had been reached. On May 28, France's Ambassador briefed
selected journalists in the UN Delegates' Lounge, reportedly leading to
a protest by uninvited television journalists perceived to be more
interested in the Middle East. By contrast,
Georgia's Ambassador Lomaia made his charges on the record on UN TV and
took questions from any journalist who chose to come.
Russia is somewhere in the middle: Ambassador Churkin spoke only
briefly in English on UN TV -- Inner City Press asked for Russia's
view on Ban's security zone proposal, Churkin said, Too early, video
here from Minute 1:11
-- but then long longer to Russian media. It was translated for Inner
City Press as including that Russia will seek an embargo against
offensive weapons to Georgia. Lomaia bristled that Georgia has a
right to reach what agreements it wants. And to say whatever it
wants, apparently. We will continue to cover this.
Update of May 28 -- the following
was put out by the UN:
Subj:
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Georgia
From:
unspokesperson-donotreply [at] un.org
To:
Inner City Press
Sent:
5/28/2009 1:33:57 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
The
claim by the Georgian Permanent Representative that the
Secretary-General amended his report on Georgia in response to
“Russian blackmail” is categorically rejected. The statement
itself is very unfortunate.
The
principal concern of the Secretary-General in the drafting of his
Report has been that all concerned parties should engage on the
substantive issues in question, more specifically on a mechanism to
guarantee safety and security in this troubled region. The adoption
of the title was meant to avoid unnecessary politicization of the
debate among members of the Security Council and reflected his view
of what all members could live with.
The
Secretary-General rejects any suggestion that any threats were made
to him in this connection.
Note
the phrase "any" threats...
Update of May 28, 6:20 p.m. -- Russian
Ambassador Churkin came
out of the Council's North Korea consultations to speak, not about the draft
DPRK resolution which Inner City Press obtained and exclusively
published Thursday morning, but rather about Georgia, and mostly in
Russian. Inner
City Press asked if he denies Georgia's claim that Russia blackmailed
Ban Ki-moon into changing the title of the Secretariat's report on
Abkhazia / Georgia. Yes, he denies it. Amb. Churkin asked, You don't
speak Russian yet? Watch this site.
Click here for Inner
City
Press' March 27 UN debate
Click here for Inner City
Press March 12 UN (and AIG
bailout) debate
Click here for Inner City
Press' Feb 26 UN debate
Click
here
for Feb.
12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN
Office: S-453A, UN, NY 10017
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Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's
mobile (and
weekends):
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Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
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2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
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