UNITED
NATIONS, July
4 -- Since putting
online
exclusively
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo
sanctions
Group of
Experts report,
Inner City
Press has
repeatedly
asked the UN
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operation and
its mission on
the Congo
MONUSCO for a
response. For
five days
there has been
been nothing
but
stonewalling.
This
despite the
fact that the
questions have
been entirely
factual: have
DPKO and
MONUSCO
provided
support to the
Congolese army
units
depicted in
the report as
engaged in
rape, child
soldier
recruitment,
looting of
village and UN
compounds, conflict
gold mining
and, not
least, supporting
and arming of
the FDLR
militia.
DPKO,
three of whose
four
spokespeople
reported being
out of the
office,
confirmed
receipt of the
questions on
June 29. But
still, no
substantive
response.
This is a pattern: Ladsous video here.
Likewise
to questions
sent to
MONUSCO in
precisely the
way they
invited, send
your questions
to MONUSCO.
Nothing.
The
Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
which beyond
fighting for
freedom of
the press in
the UN and for
example in the
past
two days
in
Somaliland
is assessing
UN “social”
media and
ostensibly
independent
media like
Radio Okapi in
the Congo, twice
asked
Okapi when
it
would be
covering the
Group of
Experts
report.
No
answer, but
finally five
days after it
was published,
Okapi weighed
in -- with the
DRC
government's
denial. Unlike
for example
even
Bloomberg
News, which
reporting from
Kinsasha
credited Inner
City
Press for
putting the
report online,
Okapi said
nothing until
DRC
spokesman
Lambert Mende
denounced it.
The
denunciation
itself is
strange, given
that Mende and
the Kabila
government
made much of
the
previous Group
of Experts
report on
outside
support to the
M23.
While
many good
people work
for Okapi,
this sequence
is telling.
MONUSCO,
one of two
“partners” in
Okapi,
supports the
DRC
government.
So,
when in
January 2013
Inner City
Press reported
on support for
the
FDLR by the
Congolese Army
FARDC, the
response was a
MONUSCO press
release
denouncing
Inner City
Press.
Now
that the UN
Group of
Experts report
confirms this
support and
even
arming, will
MONUSCO
retract its
bogus January
30, 2013 press
release? We
have asked
DPKO -- which
has refused to
answer the
most
basic
questions.
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
One
point here is
that it is
absurd to
claim that
Radio Okapi is
entirely
independent,
with MONUSCO
as a partner,
just as it is
absurd
to
claim that
Voice of
America, with
John Kerry on
its Board, is
independent
from the US
State
Department.
We'll have
more on this.
, 
