As DRC Censors By Slowing Internet,
ICP Asks
UN Which Has No
Comment, UN
Censors Too
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
August 8 – Amid mass arrests
and tear gas in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Inner
City Press on July 31 asked
the UN, which has a billion
dollar peacekeeping mission
there. UN Spokesman Stephane
Dujarric had... nothing.
Amazingly, a full 24 hour
later - with more than 100
arrests being reported --
Dujarric still had nothing
except an attempt to downplay
it, saying people have been
released. On August 8, Inner
City Press asked Dujarric, ,
video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: in the DRC
[Democratic Republic of the
Congo], and this is not about…
this is about the Government
itself announcing two telecom
companies to slow down the
internet so that images cannot
be transmitted by Twitter or
other…
Spokesman: I'm not aware
of the situation.
Inner City Press: I guess what
I'm wondering on that —
there's an article on it, so
you could be aware of it —is,
does the UN, as much as you
might seem like you don't
monitor Twitter, given that
photographs are one of the
ways in which human rights
violations in the Kasaïs are
being documented.
Spokesman: I
understand. I'm aware of
the situation. I can
check.
Eight
hours later, nothing - but UN
Deputy Secretary General Amina
J. Mohammed, who met with a
Cameroon trio on August 8 with
Dujarric not despite Press
requested providing the
attendees list, is set to meet
with the DRC on August 9. We
hope to have more on this. On
August 4, Inner City Press
asked Dujarric about a UN
report, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: there's a
due-diligence and vetting
process. So, one side of
the UN has found that there
may be Government units
supporting these. Are
you saying that these units
are not being supported… the…
the supervisors or whoever the
UN is aware of…?
Spokesman: I think, as
you know, we've said in the
past and we do due
diligence. There are
some units we've worked with
and others we have not, and
we've been very open about
when we've refused to work
with certain units.
Inner City Press: And although
this report doesn't
specifically name, but seems
to show some knowledge of, who
in the Congolese governmental
system is supporting these
militia units, has that
information been turned over
for the… for purposes of
vetting? And are there
any people actually being
vetted?
Spokesman: I'm sure
that, in drafting the report,
it was shared with the
Congolese authorities.
On
August 2 he returned to say
more than 100 had been
arrested, including
journalists (he himself evicted
the Press from the Briefing
Room and UN);
Inner City Press asked him, UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press: Thanks for
the, I guess, the numbers on
DRC [Democratic Republic of
the Congo]. I wanted to
ask you about another report
from there which is that the
press there is reporting that
the Gregory Starr report into
the death of the experts,
Zaida Catalán and Michael
Sharp, exonerates the
Government. That’s what
the media in the DRC is
saying, is the report
finished?
Spokesman: The report is
still in its final stages of
being finished. I think
anybody who claims to know the
conclusions of the report is
speaking on, not based on any
knowledge or facts.
Question: Sure.
Well, I mean Gregory Starr
presumably would know?
Spokesman: I'm saying in
any press reports to that
effect.
Question: What is going
to be the logistics and the
timing of actually people,
because, given the interest in
this in of knowing of the
report being made public or a
summary being made public?
Spokesman: I think there
will be some type of executive
summary that will be made
public. After 17 years
in this Organization, I try
not to be too tied down by
timeframes, but we do expect
it either this week or next
week.
Question: And do you
think that one or more of the
authors could…?
Spokesman: I wish I
could predict that.
From the UN's
August 1 transcript:
Inner City Press: now more
than 100 people were arrested
in the DRC in the protests of
the passing of the time, so
yesterday you said you didn't
have it?
Spokesman: No. We,
obviously the Mission is aware
of it. We understand a
number of people have been
released and the human rights
component of the [UN] Mission
is monitoring the situation.
Already
downplaying it. From the UN's
July 31 transcript:
Inner City Press: anything on
the Democratic Republic of the
Congo? There have been
major protests there
today. This was the day
people were supposed to be
registered to vote for the
election. There have
been arrests and the use of
tear gas in Kinshasa, Bukavu,
Goma. Given that the UN
has a billion-dollar
peacekeeping mission there, do
they have some statement on
it?
Spokesman: I have not
gotten anything from the
mission on that today.
And eight
hours later, nothing. After
the UN belatedly focused into
the murder of UN experts
Michael Sharp and Zaida
Catalan, unprotected by the UN
in the DR Congo, on July 10
Inner City Press asked UN
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric
what it is, exactly, that the
UN is investigating. UN
Transcript here
and below. Then on July 11
Inner City Press asked the
Under Secretary General for
Peacekeeping Operations
Jean-Pierre Lacroix what is
being done. Periscope video here.
Lacroix answered that he
raised the issue "at the
highest levels" in the DRC, as
of concern to the UN and to
the countries of origin of the
experts. (In fact, Sweden's
Olof Skoog has called for a
more rigorous investigation
that those current underway.)
Lacroix noted the current DRC
cases and said the UN has
shared detailed information
with the authorities there.
We'll have more on this. Back
on July 10, Inner City Press
asked UN Spokesman Dujarrric:
on DRC. There's been a
letter by ten US senators,
pretty much bipartisan about
the killings of Michael Sharp
and Zaida Catalan. And I
wanted to ask you about this
sentence in it. They
said that they've heard of the
UN Board of Inquiry [BOI], but
they understand, quote, it
will not seek to identify
perpetrators or what happened
to Mr. Sharp's and Ms.
Catalan's Congolese
interpreter and drivers.
So, they're asking for a more
serious investigation.
One, I wanted to know, what's
the status of that Board of
Inquiry given the interest and
what happened. And is it
true that the Board of
Inquiry, as these senators are
saying, will not look at all
at what happened into the
UN-contracted interpreter and
driver?
Spokesman: No. The
BOI is under way. We… last I'd
heard, we expect it for the
end of this month. As
we've said, we would effort to
make some of its findings
public. The BOI was
appointed to establish the
facts and, if possible,
identify the perpetrators
around the killings.
We'll submit a report with
recommendations as to the next
step. We're also looking
at further options that may be
available to us.
Obviously, first and foremost,
the responsibility lies on the
Congolese authorities.
We cannot substitute ourselves
for a national criminal
investigation unless, of
course, there is a Security
Council mandate. I think
I would urge you to wait and
see what the findings are, and
then we can take it, next
step. My understanding
also is that the letter was
addressed, from what I saw in
the press reports, to
Ambassador [Nikki] Haley, not
to the Secretary-General.
Inner City Press: What I
wanted to know is, one, I
remember at the time, there
was some dispute about whether
the… in fact, the interpreter
of the two experts had also
been found dead. Is
that… is your understanding
that he has?
Spokesman: My… I don't
have an understanding into
that. I think we have to
wait for the BOI and see what
facts they would have been
able to clear up.
On June 5 US
Ambassador Nikki Haley said
"they and their families
deserve justice. We owe it to
their legacy to end the human
rights abuses being carried
out by armed groups and the
DRC government against the
Congolese people. We hope
other nations will join us"-
she called for a Human Rights
Council and a UN Secretary
General investigation. On June
16, Haley added: "reports of
the Congolese government’s
campaign of murder and rape of
women and children should
shock us into action. These
allegations must be
investigated and those
responsible held accountable.
It is past time for the Human
Rights Council to take
decisive action and launch an
independent investigation into
the human rights violations
and abuses in the DRC. This is
the core mission of the HRC.
If they can’t act in a
situation this horrifying, why
bother having one." On June 6,
Inner City Press asked the
SG's holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric, UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press: Nikki Haley
has called on the
Secretary-General, António
Guterres, to initiate a
special investigation into the
murders of Michael Sharp and
Zaida Catalan. I saw you
were quoted, something about…
I want to understand your
position, something about
using maximum authority.
Doesn't he have the authority
to investigate the murder of
UN staff members?
Spokesman: Well, I
think, you know, first of all,
we, obviously… you know, the
call from Ambassador Haley and
we've seen calls from the…
from Sweden, as well. We
take the requests very
seriously. I think they
echo our own concern.
The Secretary-General has
consistently said that he and
the Secretariat would do
everything they could to make
sure justice was done in this
case while recognizing first
and foremost that the
responsibility for a criminal
investigation rests with the
Government of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo
(DRC). We cannot
substitute ourselves… the
Secretary-General, the
Secretariat, cannot substitute
himself… ourselves for the
criminal justice system of a
sovereign State. We're
cooperating… actively
cooperating with national
authorities conducting
criminal investigations, but
we're also ready to implement
any Security Council decision
on this matter. As you
know, there is a Board of
Inquiry (BOI) that was
appointed. They are
fully at work. We expect
their conclusions of that work
to be done by the end of
July. They're there to
establish the facts and, if
possible, identify the
perpetrators. And they'll
submit a report with
recommendations to the
Secretary-General. We're
also looking at further
options that may be available
to us. But that review,
the work of the BOI, should
provide a good basis for
putting together a set of
possible next steps for the
Secretary-General Member
States to consider in the
murder of… to find out what
happened… not only find out
what happened to the murder…
to our two murdered
colleagues, but also to ensure
that justice is done and those
who killed them are brought to
justice.
Inner City Press: Since often
these Board of Inquiries are
not… not made public, can you…
is the intention, at a
minimum, to at least make it
public…
Spokesman: We will… as
we've done in certain cases,
we will share with you what we
can and make public what we
can of the Board of Inquiry,
in a way that doesn't
jeopardize any future
investigations that may take
place.
We'll stay on this. Earlier on
June 6, Inner City Press asked
UK Ambassador Matthew Rycroft:
Inner City Press: Does
the UK think that the
Secretary-General should do
his own inquiry to the death
of the two experts in the DRC?
Nikki Haley has called for
that, as well as for the Human
Rights Council to do it. Which
do you think should happen, or
either?
Amb Rycroft: Well, we want to
just get to the truth. We want
those who are responsible for
the devastating murder of the
two UN officials to be held to
account. So whichever way will
get to the truth, we support.
Meanwhile, as Inner City Press
has reported, the UN
Department of Safety and
Security's alleged burying of
reports should not itself be
covered up. After Inner City
Press exclusively
reported that UN Department of
Safety and Security's top
officer Peter Drennan -- to
whom the Board of Inquiry
report on Sharp and Catalan
would be filed on July 31 --
ordered that a security report
on UNESCO chief Irina Bokova
be “buried” last year due to
the personal political
implications for Drennan if
Bokova instead of Antonio
Guterres became UN Secretary
General, the UN's response was
to attack the leak. (On May 23
they insisted a Garowe,
Somalia Board of Inquiry
report was shared with
interested parties). Also on
May 23, when Inner City Press
asked about criticism of the
UN in the DRC, the response
was to defend everything. From
the UN transcript:
Inner City Press: I'm sure
you've seen the editorial in
The New York Times saying,
“astoundingly irresponsible
approach by the United Nations
to an obviously dangerous and
unusually important
task”. They also
question what's been
accomplished for the billions
spent in the… in the DRC.
***
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