These
questions of
immunity keep
arising. Back
in August, an
assault with a
chair
reportedly
occurred at
the residence
of the
Ambassador of
Equatorial
Guinea in the
Arlington
suburb of
Washington.
Due to
diplomatic
immunity, no
arrest was
made. ARLnow.com
reports that
Police
were called to
the home of
Ambassador
Ruben Maye
Nsue Mangue
after a female
911 caller
reported that
“there’s
someone going
crazy at her
house” and a
man “hit her
in the head
with a chair,”
according to
scanner
traffic.
“I’ve
been there
before,” said
a responding
officer.
“There have
been previous
calls from
this address.”
The female
victim was
struck
“several
times,” police
said.
Paramedics
transported
her to
Virginia
Hospital
Center with a
head wound,
but no arrests
were made.
“The
subject has
full
diplomatic
immunity and
was not
arrested,”
Arlington
County Police
said in a
crime report
today. Police
said the
assault was
“domestic” in
nature but
declined to
reveal the
identity of
the suspect.
“We won’t go
in to those
details at
this time,”
ACPD spokesman
Dustin
Sternbeck told
ARLnow.com.
“The State
Department was
notified by
our officers
and it’s in
their hands at
this point.”
While
outrageous,
this also
strikes some
as contrary
for example to
how India's
diplomat
Devyani
Khobragade was
treated,
compared with
others.
We'll have
more on this.
On the DRC, US
State
Department
deputy
spokesperson
Marie Harf on
August 8 said:
"We
are troubled
by the attacks
against
several
protesters by
members of the
official
delegation
from the
Democratic
Republic of
the
Congo.
It was
Wednesday
evening.
Take the right
to freedom of
expression
very
seriously, and
violence
against
peaceful
protesters is
totally
unacceptable.
We
communicated
our concern to
the delegation
in the
strongest
possible
terms.
We requested
waivers of
immunity to
permit those
involved to
face
prosecution,
and if such
waivers were
not issued, we
required that
the immediate
departure from
the country of
the
individuals
involved.
They did not
waive immunity
and the
individuals
involved left
the country on
Thursday."
So amid
the speeches
in the
Security
Council on
Thursday,
August 7,
officials from
the DRC were
leaving the US
after
attacking
protesters and
refusing to
waive
immunity.
On
August 7 in
New York,
Kobler said it
had been
transparent,
than when the
UN Security
Council's
sanctions
committee
denied the
waiver
requested by
Herve Ladsous,
the FDLR
leader was
returned "to
the bush."
Inner City
Press asked,
isn't he
subject to an
arrest warrant
in Rwanda?
Kobler said he
was unaware of
that.
On the mere
two
convictions
for the 130
rapes by the
Congolese Army
in Minova in
November 2012,
Kobler said
the legal
process was OK
-- video
here --
but that the
investigation
was not
sufficient.
The third
Press
questions,
which Kobler
did not
answer,
concerned the
rehabilitation
of General
Amisi after a
failure to
investigate
the charges
against him.
On back June
27 amid
reports that
the UN flew a
sanctioned
militia leader
of the FDLR
militia on a
UN aircraft in
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo,
Inner City
Press asked
UN spokesman
Stephane
Dujurric about
it at the UN
noon briefing
on June 27:
Inner
City
Press: why did
MONUSCO
[United
Nations
Organization
Stabilization
Mission in the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo] fly
him to Goma to
Kisangani and
then to
Kinshasa when,
in fact, I
think there’s
an arrest
warrant for
him?
Spokesman
Dujarric:
I’m not aware
of any other
services
provided to
him by
MONUSCO.
But
it turns out
that UN
Peacekeeping
under Herve
Ladsous flew
the sanctioned
FDLR leader
from Eastern
Congo to
Kinshasa.
Rwanda
complained
about this, in
writing, on
June 26.
On July 16,
Inner City
Press asked
Rwanda's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
what has been
Ladsous'
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations'
response.
There has BEEN
no response -
in more than
three weeks. Video here, and embedded below.
Little more
than an hour
later, Ladsous
floated into
the Security
Council to
talk about
Central
African
Republic --
without having
answered a
written
complaint from
a Security
Council member
in more than
three weeks.
We call this:
unaccountable.
Dujarric
on June 27,
and in the
subsequent
times Inner
City Press
asked,
insisted that
not only Mary
Robinson (who
today left her
post as the
UN's Great
Lakes envoy)
but also US
envoy Russ
Feingold
requested the
waiver, and
that the FDLR
leader Gaston
Iyamuremye a/k/a
Rumuli had not
traveled to
Rome, arguing
that only that
was important.
Inner City
Press
disagrees --
why would UN
Peacekeeping
under Herve
Ladsous given his
history on
Rwanda,
representing
France in the
Security
Council in
1994
arguing for
the escape of
the
genocidaires
into Eastern
Congo, fly a
sanctioned
FDLR figure
linked to the
genocide
around?
On July
15, Haq
said
Rumuli
was escorted
from Kinshasa
back to the
east. Video
here.
Inner City
Press asked
about MONUSCO
escorting
Rumuli.
Haq said what
he had read
did not say
MONUSCO did
the escorting.
So who did?
And if not the
UN, how does
the UN know
where Rumuli
went? Watch
this site.
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