By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
7 -- After the
International
Criminal Court
scaled back
its charges
against
Germain
Katanga, today
it announced:
Germain
Katanga,
alleged
commander of
the Force
de résistance
patriotique en
Ituri
[Patriotic
Force of
Resistance in
Ituri]
(FRPI), was
tried before
Trial Chamber
II, composed
of Judges
Bruno Cotte,
Fatoumata
Dembele Diarra
and Christine
Van den
Wyngaert... In
her dissenting
opinion, Judge
Van den
Wyngaert
challenges the
change in the
characterization
of Germain
Katanga’s mode
of liability.
She argues
that the
change in
characterization
rendered the
trial unfair
and breached
the rights of
the Defense,
as it did not
receive proper
notification
of the new
charges and
was not
afforded a
reasonable
opportunity to
conduct
investigations
in order to
mount a
defence
against them.
But if
Katanga is
guilty, even
of lesser
charges and
with this
dissent, why
wasn't Peter
Karim ever put
on trial? For
the FPRI he
recruited
child
soldiers, and
kidnapped (and
killed) UN
Peacekeepers.
Then
head of UN
Peacekeeper
Jean-Marie
Guehenno knows
or knew all
about Kerim,
who in
exchange for
releasing the
UN
Peacekeepers
he didn't kill
demanded such
things as the
return of his
motorcycle and
a slew of
boots.
Guehenno, back
in the era
before candor
was banned in
the UN, mused
that Kerim
might be on
drugs.
On camera,
Guehenno told
Inner City
Press of Kerim
/ Karim, "I
know he wanted
to be a
colonel... if
he does become
a colonel in
the Congolese
army, he will
need a lot of
training, let
me say that."
But he
struck a deal
in Congo
itself, and
moved into the
Grand Hotel in
Kinsasha. The
ICC became a
tool of Joseph
Kabila against
his enemies.
And
the UN? Has it
gotten better
on child
soldiers since
it looked the
other way on
the Peter
Kerim (non)
case?
Guehenno's
successor
twice removed,
Herve Ladsous,
on
March 6
refused to
answer an
Inner City
Press question
about child
soldiers.
Under
Ladsous, UN
Peacekeeper
has
incorporated
into its Mali
Mission a
UN-listed
recruiter of
child
soldiers, and
is about to do
it again in
the Central
African
Republic.
Ladsous may
cook the
books, so to
speak, and
pragmatically
get them
delisted. But
it is not
credible,
including
because no
questions are
taken about
it.
Nor has
Ladsous
explained his
meeting in
July 2013 with
ICC-indictee
Omar al
Bashir, which
Inner City
Press asked
ICC Prosecutor
Fatou Bensouda
about, click
here for that.
Now Ladsous'
DPKO in South
Sudan has been
caught driving
guns, by road,
in white UN
trucks.
Where's the
accountability?
Here
is
UK coverage of
how low
Ladsous has
taken UN
Peacekeeping.
His new
spokesperson
Nick Birnback,
who used to
work for
Guehenno, has
adopted the
circus-like
stonewalling
of his
predecessor,
Kieran Dwyer.
Dwyer now runs
communications
for OCHA, the
UN's
humanitarian
arm.
Click here for
a video of
Ladsous
refusing
questions
about the 100 rapes
in Minova by
the UN's
partners in
the Congolese
Army, and
Dwyer's
rationalization.
This is
today's UN.
Watch this
site.
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