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The UN on Protection of Civilians Dost Protest Too Much, 62 Speakers But What of Congo, Sri Lanka and Sudan?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 11, updated below -- To protect civilians should go without saying for the United Nations, given its rhetoric. Speech after speech will be given at a debate on the topic in the Security Council on November 11, covered below. But a decade and a half after the UN pulled out during the Rwanda genocide, and stood by during the slaughter in Srebrenica, the UN is still at odds with itself on levels large and small.

  In the Congo for example despite a relatively small recent change, the peacekeeping mission under the charge of Alan Doss has provided support to Army units now known to have raped and killed civilians.

  Even its own local staff, the UN is not protecting. This week, former MONUC staffer John Dimandja wrote to the Secretary General that his disarmament work for the UN with militias in Ituri put him and his family at risk and needs to leave the region. The UN focused on his desperate reference to stepping in front of the S-G's limousine, called the police and told Dimandja to stay away. Click here and here for Inner City Press' two exclusive stories; a third is in the works.

  The Congo mission was created and is ostensibly overseen by the Security Council. But when Inner City Press asked a Council diplomat about Dimandja's plight, the answer was, "We don't really deal with that."

  And this month's earnest Security Council president Thomas Mayr-Harting of Austria, which oversees today's debate, said he had not heard about Doctors without Borders days-old public statement that its vaccination drive in rebel controlled areas of Eastern Congo was used as "bait" by the Army to attack civilians.

  The UN Mission in Sudan has said it cannot protect civilians from the Lord's Resistance Army; Darfur speaks for itself. These are the UN's largest peacekeeping forces. Then there are conflicts in which the Security Council declines to put on its agenda, such as the slaughter of tens of thousands of Sri Lankans, nearly all Tamils, earlier this year. China and Russia opposed discussing the matter, but the U.S., France, UK and others went along.

UN Security Council in the Congo, whistleblowers and bait not shown

  Instead of calling for a vote, they contented themselves with non-binding non-meetings in the UN's basement. The Council has not revisited the situation in Sri Lanka since May, despite hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians being locked up in monsoon flooded camps.

  So it is difficult not to think, in hearing these lofty UN speeches about protection of civilians, that "thou dost protest too much." We will review the days events below as the happen. Watch this space.

Update of 10:01 a.m. -- at the stakeout in front of the Security Council, correspondents are told that there will be 62 speakers in the "debate" on the protection of civilians. There is groaning. For the Secretariat, Ban Ki-moon, John Holmes and Alain Le Roy -- who strides in smiling -- will be there, as well as the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights.

   Former French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert comes to schmooze the press -- it's too early in his mandate for a briefing, he says, adding that sometimes the UN is constrained by member states. As he leaves, a Middle Eastern reporter quips, "The UN salary seems to be suiting him well."

  As the Costa Rican Ambassador walks in, a reporter shouts, "Any problems with white powder?" The reference is to the anthrax scare, which started with three Missions to the UN and has proceeded from there. There are other countries with other white powders...

Update of 10:30 a.m. -- Austria's foreign minister mechanically thanks Ban Ki-moon for his "most interesting" speech. Now top UN humanitarian John Holmes is up. He mentions Yemen -- but apparently not Sri Lanka. He asks, have we narrowed the gap between rhetoric and action? Apparently not.

Update of 10:36 a.m. -- Holmes says "we need flexibility" to engage with armed groups (that is, non state actors), in order to protect humanitarian workers. It's a good point. But one wonders why Holmes is, for example, so reluctant to admit that the supposed investigation of the killing of 17 Action Contre La Faim workers led nowhere, with its advisory committee quitting due to its lack of credibility. Apparently, if a member state criticizes the UN or OCHA strenuously and persistently enough, the UN's message changes or goes silent. There's always another conflict, with less oversight, to move on to....

Update of 10:40 a.m. -- Sudan's deputy permanent representative groans and says, seventy speakers now! And Sudan is 53rd. We are ready for our election, he tells Inner City Press, then shakes his head at the UN's electoral snafus in Afghanistan. It's a shame, he says, entirely without irony.

Update of 10:44 a.m. -- and now, one expects the last Sudanese Mission update of the day, Sudan's Ambassador comes over to make, again, his double standard point. He said, those speechifying today, many voted against or abstained on endorsing the Goldstone report on Gaza. Now they talk about protection of civilians. He laughs and ambles into the Council.

Update of 10:49 a.m. -- the Deputy High Commisioner for Human Rights, after touching on the Goldstone report, which she says has been transmitted to the Security Council, which is not entirely clear, and on Eastern Congo, turns to Darfur. Next to her the Libyan Deputy looks glum.  She does it quick, and moves on to Kabul.

Update of 10:58 a.m. -- as the minister of Croatia reads his speech, Inner City Press is told that even the word "UN" now makes people mad in Croatia, since their most recent Ambassador to the UN "misappropriated" national funds. They didn't call him "the gambler" for nothing...

Update of 11:14 a.m. --  during the UK's speech, at the stakeout it is asked if this is the country's new Ambassador. No, Minister Taylor is a woman, and Mark Lyall Grant is man, who is yet to be seen at the stakeout. Yesterday, Deputy PR Parham told Inner City Press he was not aware of any plan to keep British troops in Afghanistan "out of harm's way" pending the UK elections...

Update of 11:20 a.m. -- As France's Araud speechifies, he uses four examples: Sudan, Gaza, Sri Lanka and Guinea. Before this can sink in, a correspondent notes that Araud got a lot of laughs yesterday morning, referring to the letters from Dallas containing white powder: "Don't mess with Texas," he quipped. Now he's speaking on the Congo.

Update of 11:23 a.m. -- okay, more seriously, it is explained to Inner City Press that the inclusion of language about humanitarian access in the resolution is something that can be pointed to in the future. But how much more access will it lead to?

Update of 11:26 a.m. -- as the Austrian minister thanks "Excellency Araud" and hands it off to Russia's Vitaly Churkin, Ban Ki-moon is still in the room, dutifully checking off on a paper in front of him. France, done. Russia, now. Four minutes until the Austrians' stakeout is scheduled. But the text of the Austrian minister's opening statement is not available. Churkin is denouncing one sided approaches, and saying that private security companies, too, are subject to international humanitarian law.

Update of 11:33 a.m. -- First Holmes leaves, grim faced, then the smiling Alain Le Roy. Then Ban Ki-moon and Vijay Nambiar, flanked by security. Mr. Ban waves. The Austrian stakeout can't be far behind.

Update of 11:53 a.m. -- Inner City Press asked Austria's minister three questions, and will report on the answers, probably in a separate piece -- after the day's UN noon briefing.

Click here for an Inner City Press YouTube channel video, mostly UN Headquarters footage, about civilian deaths in Sri Lanka.

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