As
Obama
Deploys on
LRA, It's Not
With UN, ICC
Coverage
Unclear
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 14 --
As the UN
Security
Council
discussed the
fight
against the
Lord's
Resistance
Army on
Monday
morning, a
topic
left unclear
was whether
the American
military
personnel
being sent
for that
purpose by US
President
Barack Obama
were
coordinating
with
the UN.
US
Alternative
Representative
Jeffrey
DeLaurentis,
polite but
tight lipped
with the
press, told
the Council
that as
"graciously
mentioned by
the ambassador
of Gabon this
morning,
President
Obama
announced last
month the United
Nations*
would deploy a
small number
of military
personnel to
the
LRA-affected
region, in
consultation
with host
governments,
to act as
advisers to
regional
militaries
pursuing the
LRA."
Many
speakers did
not mention
the US
deployment,
and when Inner
City Press
after the
meeting asked
UN Office for
Central Africa
chief Moussa
if the US was
coordinating
with the UN,
he said no,
"that's
bilateral."
Some
wonder why
the Obama
Administration,
so often
arguing how
good it is to
work
with the UN,
is not working
with the UN on
this. Weeks
ago the UN
answered
Inner City
Press that its
Congo
mission
"MONUSCO
was
not consulted
about the US
decision to
send a small
group of
military
advisers to
assist the
forces that
are countering
the LRA,
before it was
officially
announced on
14 October.
Regarding
coordination,
there are
currently two
US information
analysts based
at the
Mission's
Joint
Information
and Operation
Centre in
Dungu, in
Province
Orientale...
MONUSCO is
undertaking
operations in
a number
of areas where
armed groups
are active.
The Mission is
also providing
support to
some FARDC
operations in
compliance
with the human
rights
and due
diligence
policy."
So
the Obama
administration
did not
consult with
the UN Mission
on the ground,
but
has two "
information
analysts"
based at the
UN in Dungu.
Some also
wonder how or
if the US is
exempting its
personnel from
the
jurisdiction
of the
International
Criminal
Court, which
the Obama
adminstration
found so
important to
do in
connection
with the
Council's
Libya
resolutions
this year.
(c) UN Photo
Obama &
Ban Ki-moon:
good enough to
shake but not
coordinate
with?
Inner
City Press
went from UN
to the Council
on Foreign
Relations,
where US
Congressman
Barney Frank
was speaking
from 1 to 2
pm, hoping to
ask
about Obama's
deployment
against the
LRA, which
Frank foil
Rush
Limbaugh
strangely
praised a
month ago. But
all
journalists
except
CFR members
were shunted
into the side
Cyrus Vance
room, from
which
no questions
could be
asked.
Frank
said that UN
troops play
more of a role
that people
think. Why
doesn't the
Obama
administration's
LRA deployment
work with
them, then?
Footnote:
Frank
had his
audience,
including
representatives
of JPMorgan
Chase
and other
institutions,
laughing with
jokes about
whether
"tilting
toward China"
connoted a
pinball
machine.
Frank
said while
Democrats
chose the term
"recovery"
over
"stimulus,"
most people he
knows
preferred
being
stimulated to
recovery. He
said he met
"Les
Gelb as a
section
assistant in a
foreign
relations
course taught
by Henry
Kissinger" --
recently
protested as a
war criminal
at the Waldorf
- Astoria.
And so
it goes.
*
- United
States.
, 
