Reuters
Plays
UN Mouthpiece
on DRC Rape
Inaction, No
Ladsous
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 7 --
After publicly
refusing
questions
from Inner
City
Press for months
about the 126
rapes in
Minova by the
Congolese
Army,
on Thursday an
unnamed UN
official huddled
with Reuters
to try to
rehabilitate
the reputation
of both.
Now
-- unnamed, of
course -- the
UN is said to
be
“threatening”
the
Congolese
Army. Even
giving the
favor of
anonymity and
positive
coverage, Reuters
cannot or does
not name the
Congolese Army
units
present in
Minova from
November 20 to
22 at the time
of the rapes.
What
triggered the
UN's
“anonymous”
reach out? On
March 5, Inner
City
Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
himself about
Ladsous'
inaction on
the Minova
rapes, click
here to view.
Now,
Reuters does
not mention
the very
public
stonewalling
by UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous. In
fact, on November
27 when
Inner
City Press
asked Ladsous
about the
Minova rapes,
he abruptly
left the
stakeout and
took a handful
of reporters,
including
Reuters bureau
chief Louis
Charbonneau,
AFP's Tim
Witcher
and Voice of
America's
Margaret
Besheer out
into the
hallway. Video
here.
But
Reuters UN
bureau didn't
write about
the rapes
then, nor when
Ladsous
did
the same thing
on December 7,
nor even when
Ladsous
had his
spokesman
seize the UNTV
microphone on
December 18 to
try to prevent
Inner City
Press'
question on
the Minova
rapes. Video
here.
Charbonneau
is
the first vice
president of
the
increasingly
discredited UN
Correspondents
Association,
which said
nothing about
Ladsous'
unprecedented
anti-press
behavior. It
is
increasingly
known as the
UN's
Censorship
Alliance.
Reuters,
at
least at the
UN, has a
history of
stealing
stories, of
granting
anonymity
without
explaining it
-- a trademark
of the byline
on this story,
Michelle
Nichols -- and
of giving
positive
coverage to
the UN in
exchange for
access. But
this is a new
low, not only
for
Ladsous'
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations but
for Reuters.
Watch
this site.
Footnote:
Some of the
Ladsous
stonewalling
video footage
above made its
way into a short film, #LADSOUS2013, here,
which the
other side of
the UN
Censorship
Alliance urged
not continue
to be run. But
it must be, it
will be, and
it will be
followed up.
Watch this
site.
, 
