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By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 10 – 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 10, Inner City Press asked Dujarric, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the report into the killing of the two experts, Michael Sharp and Zaida Catalán, I noticed that the Deputy Secretary-General met with the perm rep of DRC [Democratic Republic of the Congo] this week?  Is that report, in fact… I think you'd said it was coming out quite soon.

Spokesman:  Yeah, I expect a, it is coming out quite soon.  I also made sure not to box myself in with a… with a date promise, but I think we should have… we should be able to announce something either late this week or early… early next week.

Inner City Press: Do you know if the meeting of the Deputy Secretary-General with the PR... somehow I saw this as related...

Spokesman:  No, I don't think, I’m… I don't have a readout, but I don't think it was directly related.

  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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