As
UN Calls
Rights
Diligence
Hypothetical,
Says Only M23
in Rutshuru
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 26 –
Amid
conflicting
reports about
renewed
fighting in
and around
Rutshuru in
the Eastern
Congo after
the
signing Sunday
in Addis Ababa
of the
framework
agreement,
Inner City
Press on
Tuesday asked
the UN about
it.
On the
fighting
around
Rutshuru,
later on
Tuesday the
Rwandan
Mission
to the UN told
Inner City
Press it's
their view
that the FDLR
were on
the move from
Rugari. They
marveled that
Ban Ki-moon's
recent report
did not
mention what
they say were
two incursions
into Rwanda by
the
FDLR.
Ban's
envoy Roger
Meece, it
seems, in
closed door
consultations
said
repeatedly
that since the
FARDC, or some
in the FARDC,
have fought
against the
FDLR, they
could not be
working
together at
any level.
This, Rwanda
disputes.
And
if even Herve
Ladsous knows
the identities
of most of the
FARDC
perpetrators
of the 126
rapes in
Minova from
November 20 to
22, why
has he done
nothing? Why
does the UN
nevertheless
speak with
such
assurance, at
least off
camera in
Security
Council
consultations,
about the bone
fides of the
FARDC?
Inner City
Press asked:
Inner
City Press:
two questions
about the
Democratic
Republic of
Congo. One is
that there
have been
reports for a
few days of
fighting
around
Rutshuru. Some
people are
saying it is
two different
factions of
the
M23 (23 March
Movement),
other people
say it is the
FDLR
(Democratic
Forces for the
Liberation of
Rwanda)… So,
does MONUSCO
(United
Nations
Organization
Stabilization
Mission in the
Democratic
Republic
of the Congo)
have access to
this area? Do
they have any
sense of
who is doing
the fighting?
And I wanted
to ask, the
peace
enforcement
brigade as
envisioned by
the
Secretary-General,
would
it
be covered by
this human
rights due
diligence
policy of the
UN system
in terms of
which units of
the FARDC
[Congolese
Army] it would
work
with?
Deputy
Spokesperson
Eduardo Del
Buey: Well, to
answer your
first
question,
MONUSCO
reports that
on 24
February, in
Rutshuru,
North Kivu
Province, an
exchange of
fire took
place between
rival factions
within the M23
armed group.
During the
fighting, four
M23 elements
and four
civilians were
killed. Twenty
people were
also injured,
the
Mission adds.
MONUSCO’s base
in nearby
Kiwanja was
put on high
alert and a
patrol of
armed infantry
support
vehicles was
deployed to
ensure the
protection of
civilians. Two
patrols of UN
peacekeepers
continue to be
present on the
Rutshuru-Kiwanja
axis. With
respect to
your second
question, we
will have to
see what the
Security
Council
decides, a
decision
hasn’t been
taken yet for
that force.
Inner
City Press:
But, I thought
that the human
rights due
diligence
policy is an
initiative of
the
Secretary-General,
that’s why I
am
asking you--
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, we’ll
have to see.
Right now,
there is no
other force in
the DRC. So
that is a
hypothetical
question.
It
would seem
that Ban
Ki-moon'
Secretariat
should be able
to answer on
the
applicability
of its Human
Rights Due
Diligence
Policy,
already
undermined by
DPKO chief
Herve Ladsous'
refusal to
answer then
positing of a
rape grade
period --
click here for
that.
Again,
if
even Herve
Ladsous knows
the identities
of most of the
FARDC
perpetrators
of the 126
rapes in
Minova from
November 20 to
22, why
has he done
nothing? Why
does the UN
nevertheless
speak with
such
assurance, at
least off
camera in
Security
Council
consultations,
about the bone
fides of the
FARDC? Watch
this site.
, 
