As
Congo
Mass Rapist Serafim of FDLR Roams Free, 2 New Posts at UN
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 23 -- In the wake of hundreds of rapes in Eastern
Congo, the UN knows the identity of major perpetrator Lt-Col Serafim
of the FDLR but he has not been arrested, Inner City Press was told
on the margin of UN budget negotiations on December 23.
After
the rapes in
Walikale, UN Peacekeeping deputy Atul Khare and a staffer from the UN
Office on Sexual Violence and Conflict traveled to the area.
Witnesses told them of two leaders of the rapes: Lt-Col Mayele of the
Mai Mai Cheka, and Serafim.
While
after
“discussions with Cheka” Mayele was turned over and arrested,
Serafim is still at large. Inner City Press is told that Mayele,
once arrested, named Serafim as a co-conspirator. But he has not been
arrested.
Meanwhile
in the UN
Budget committee, Margot Wallstrom's office on Sexual Violence and
Conflict has won a commitment for the nine posts they sought and not
the seven recommended by the ACABQ. The European Union opposed the
two extra posts, at least on paper.
In
terms of
resources, Margot Wallstrom told Inner City Press that MONUSCO
has gotten new communications equipment
to distribute to villagers to sound the alarm, but is concerned that
it is too expensive and might be stolen.
Wallstrom and Hillary Clinton, arrest of rapist Serafim not shown
Inner
City Press
asked Susana Malcorra of the UN Department of Field Support for the
status of the deployment of the equipment. She answered that
satellite phones are too expensive and that radio are being tried.
Watch this site.
* * *
On
Congo
Rapes,
UN Stalled By Fear of Equipment Theft, Wallstrom's
Not on Haiti
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November
9 -- In the wake of the scandal of UN peacekeepers'
inaction in Eastern Congo as hundreds of women were raped 20
kilometers from the base of the UN's MONUSCO mission, it was
announced that communications for the villagers would be improved, so
they could call for her.
On
November 9
Inner City Press asked the UN's Special Representative on Sexual
Violence in Conflict Margot Wallstrom for an update. Ms. Wallstrom
said that MONUSCO has “bought the equipment” but is now trying to
figure out “how to deploy it without exposing [the villagers] to
more danger.”
The
equipment, she
said, is expensive, and rebels and presumably others may want to
steal it. It seems this should have been thought out, and that some
improvement should actually have been in place on the ground by now.
Ms.
Wallstrom
described some new “tricks,” as she called them, such as changing
battalions in such a way that the troops that are being rotated out
remain there for a while, to give the impression of double strength.
On
the new round of
rapes on the Congolese border with Angola, Wallstrom said an
investigation is being conducted, that “MONUSCO has to decide where
to have troops.”
She
was asked
about the UN disciplining its peacekeepers for sexual abuse or
exploitation. She said it is up to the troop contributing countries
and that “the UN's capacity to follow up is limited.”
But the UN
chooses to not even report which countries discipline their
repatriated peacekeepers, much less condition future service and
payments on a country imposing discipline where necessary.
Inner
City
Press
asked about rapes in the camps in Haiti and what the UN or
Wallstrom's office is doing. She said that the number of rapes in
Haiti was “high before” the earthquake, and that many of the IDP
camps were “spontaneous” and so “unprotected.”
Wallstrom
said
that Haiti is not on her work list, she looked into whether it
would be helpful, where her office can bring “added value” -- not
Haiti, apparently. Nor did she even once mention Myanmar, where rape
is without question used as a tool of war.
Ms. Wallstrom and UNU's Coicaud, UN reform in question
In
the audience at
the UN University event were at least two Swedes. One loudly
congratulated Wallstrom; the other asked about her two year mandate.
Wallstrom said pointedly that she would stay for the two years.
Earlier during the election, there was talk of her decamping for a
post if her party won. But it did not. And now she is in, soon to
visit Bosnia and troop contributing countries. The issue is
important, and so we wish her luck.
Footnote:
in
other
rumors of revolving doors, now people are saying that the
only recently installed head of UNESCO Irina Bokova is considering
running for office back in Bulgaria. A high UN official told Inner
City Press on November 9 that Bokova could probably not have run if
she'd remained an ambassador, but by stepping out into the UN system,
she could return. The UN is being used, she said.
* * *
On
Myanmar's
Military
Election,
UN Is Silent on Observers, War Crimes,
Cyclone
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November
6
-- In the run up to Myanmar's military dominated
election, the degree of capitulation by the UN and Western permanent
members of the Security Council became painfully clear.
UN
Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon, who declined to even mention the recommendation
of UN Special Rapporteur Quintana for a war crimes investigation in
his “Report on Human Rights in Myanmar,” said that he “expects”
the election to be free and fair.
Ban never
appointed a more than
interim replacement to fill the General Assembly mandated Good
Offices on Myanmar post, and he has allowed its staff time to be
reallocated within the UN Department of Political Affairs.
The
UN Security
Council met on November 5, and afterwards the Permanent
Representatives of France and the UK came out to speak to the press.
Neither mentioned Myanmar; the UK did not even take questions.
The
UK is
president of the Council this month and makes much of “getting
Myanmar in the footnotes of the program of work.” But why wait
until after a scam election to have a meeting about it?
The UN
Development Program, meanwhile, two days before the election released a
Human
Development Report stating that Myanmar jumped up six places in global
development between 2005 and 2010. Even UNDP affiliated economist
Amartya Sen, when questioned by Inner City Press, said the Myanmar data
(and UNDP's report on it) are not credible.
When
Cyclone
Giri
hit
Myanmar, Inner City Press asked if the UN thought the election
should be postponed or modified in the hardest hit areas. We have to
do an assessment first, was the answer. Since then, nothing has been
said.
UN's Ban greets Than Shwe, election observers
or human rights recommendations not seen
At
the UN
noon
briefing on November 5, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman
Martin
Nesirky:
Inner
City
Press:
I
have some Sudan questions, but I wanted to ask about
Myanmar first because of the upcoming election on Sunday. It’s
been reported that the Government there is extending an invitation to
diplomats and UN representatives to tour polling stations on Sunday.
It’s also… that some diplomats have said that they won’t go on
the tour, but will make their own arrangements to make some
observation. I wanted to know, since the Government there forbid
outside election observers, but said it would ask the diplomatic
community, including the UN, to do it, what’s the UN intending to
do on election day in Myanmar?
Spokesperson:
Let
me
find out.
Question:
Maybe
hopefully
before the day, is that possible?
Spokesperson:
It
wouldn’t
be a bad idea, yeah. Okay?
Twenty
four
hours
later,
right before the polling began, still no answer from the UN.
Watch this site.
Update: 40 hours
more later, this
-- with no description of what the UN did during the polling, and no mention of the reported 90
day state of emergency...
* * *
, 
