In
Confronting
LRA, It's Not Only Copters UN Lacks, It's Commitment
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 17 -- A day after the UN explained
its lack of action
against the Lord's Resistance Army in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo by citing the withdrawal of nine Indian helicopters, on
Tuesday
the UN said that neither the helicopters nor apparently the LRA were
so important.
From
the
UN's
transcript of its August 17 noon briefing:
Inner
City
Press: about the LRA [Lord’s Resistance Army]? Yesterday —
and thanks a lot, you’ve given me a written response about this
MONUSCO [United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the
Democratic Republic of Congo] and the LRA and the difficulty of
chasing them down — one of the points was that somehow nine Indian
helicopters have been withdrawn and this makes it more difficult for
MONUSCO. I spoke to an Indian diplomat who said that DPKO and
MONUSCO were aware for months that this contract was not being
renewed, that India was not going to continue, and they have other
helicopters there, but they were being taken out. So their question
to DPKO and to MONUSCO, was why wasn’t some alternative plan made? It
seemed like a funny excuse… I guess what I’m wondering is, can
you confirm that DPKO knew for months that those contracts were going
to be withdrawn?
Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson Haq: Well, there was quite a lot in that note we
sent, so it doesn’t boil down to just that. But certainly, the
problem of shifting around air assets so that we can do the needed
patrols is always an issue. It’s not specific to the Indian
helicopters, per se. It’s about making sure that whatever air
assets we have can be deployed to the right circumstances. And as
you know, we have other demands on the air assets in the DRC beyond
LRA activity.
In DRC, fleeing violence, UN action on LRA not shown
Inner
City
Press: Well, I guess the question I was left with was — and
I’ve also spoken to the Permanent Representative of Uganda, who
doesn’t seem very satisfied with MONUSCO’s action on the LRA —
how important is the LRA with reports that it’s building a base in
Bawele province? What is the UN doing? Can it actually even patrol
that area or is it leaving the area?
Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson: Well, we’ve specified to you what we are
doing and we’re doing as much as we can with the assets that we
have available. That’s what we intend to do; it’s just that our
mandated tasks in the DRC also included a huge number of tasks
throughout the Democratic Republic of the Congo itself. So our
assets have to focus on a number of different priorities, not simply
the LRA. But certainly we are trying, with whatever assets we have
to bear, we’re trying to do what we can to deal with the issue of
the LRA.
But
as Inner City
Press cited when it began this series of questions about the UN's
inaction on the LRA, UN sources in the DR Congo have been saying that
the LRA is a more significant threat to civilians than the FDLR or
other Ugandan rebels. So what explains the UN's lack not only of
success, but even of focus and effort? Watch this site.
* * *
As
LRA
Builds Base in Bas Uele, UN Blames Lack of Indian Copters, AWOL on
Rape
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 16 -- With the Lord's Resistance Army building up a
base in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Ban Uele region,
killing, abducting and raping, what is the UN system doing? Very
little, it appears.
The
UN now says it
patrols an are “as large as Belgium” with its shrunken
mission
MONUSCO, and that it just can't keep up with the LRA. It says that
the pull out of nine Indian helicopters from MONUSCO in the Kivus
hurts its ability to patrol Bas Uele.
The
fact remains
that the UN has two $1 billion peacekeeping missions in the area. It
has a new Sexual Violence and Armed Conflict office, that Inner City
Press specifically asked about the LRA on August 6. What is the UN
doing?
So little
that in exclusive interviews with Inner City Press,
Ugandan diplomats express dissatisfaction bordering on disgust with
MONUSCO performance. This began under scandal plagued UN envoy Alan
Doss, but has apparently not changed under his successor SRSG Meece. On
August 12, Inner City Press asked UN
spokesman Martin Nesirky:
Inner
City
Press: On the Lord’s Resistance Army, Human
Rights Watch has
put out a report saying that they’ve newly recruited 700 more
people, one third of them children, and Reuters, in a related
piece,
quotes a UN source that the LRA is proportionally a much greater
threat than the FDLR or ADF, two other rebel groups in [Democratic
Republic of] the Congo. I’m just wondering, obviously, you know
what [MONUSCO] and the various other missions in the region,
including UNMIS… One, can they confirm these recruitment numbers
and what’s really being done on this idea of somehow coordinating
the missions and trying to put out what’s now described as a bigger
threat than what the Congolese Army has been fighting in the ADF and
FDLR?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
We’re obviously aware
of that report, the Human Rights
Watch report, and I will be in a position to provide you with a
little bit more of a detailed response shortly. What I can tell you
is that the area covered by this rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance
Army, is quite enormous, about the size of Belgium. And the
resources available to police that area are rather limited. But I
will be able to give you some more information shortly.
Four
days later,
having gotten no answer, Inner City Pres asked again about the LRA,
this time more specifically about the base in Bas Uele. Video here,
from
Minute 17:26.
Acting Deputy
Spokesman Farhan Haq repeated
Nesirky's line about patrolling an area as large as Belgium, which he
called “huge,” and spoke of the LRA as mobile. But they are
putting down roots, reportedly with an eye on targeting Uganda again
in 2011.
Later
on August
16, the UN sent Inner City Press this follow response:
Subject:
In
response to your question at noon today LRA/MONUSCO
From: UN
Spokesperson - Do Not Reply <unspokesperson-donotreply [at]
un.org>
Date: Mon, Aug 16, 2010 at 12:37 PM
To: Matthew Lee
[at] innercitypress.com
-
We
focus our available resources first on protection of civilians,
about 1,000 MONUSCO troops have built and maintain the area's main
airstrip and base that serves as a critical logistical hub for
MONUSCO, FARDC and humanitarian resupply operations; they also have
reconstructed critical main roads and maintain five temporary
operating bases in Haut Uele, conducting patrols alone and with the
FARDC.
-
We
provide logistical support to some 6,000 FARDC troops in the area
to aid them in their patrols and efforts to protect civilians and
counter the LRA threat.
-
We
have stepped up our civilian presence in the area, including teams
working to bring LRA fighters -- most of whom are abductees -- out of
the bush and leave the group.
-
We
are working with local authorities, civil society, church groups
and bilateral donors to increase communications and early warning,
but communications infrastructure and roads are nonexistent in much
of the affected area.
-
The
UN Missions in the region met in Entebbe in June and have taken
measures to improve the exchange of what information is available,
identify feasible actions and better coordinate their activities with
respect to the LRA threat. MONUSCO has created a coordination cell on
the LRA. None of the missions (UNMIS, BONUCA, nor MONUSCO) has the
resources needed to neutralize the LRA.
-
The
recent withdrawal of nine (Indian) helicopters from MONUSCO's
fleet have further stretched MONUSCO's capacity to protect civilians
-- even though the Indian helis were based in the Kivus. The mission
is now "short" some 24 helicopters overall.
There
are several
problems with this answer, of which we will list only three. First, it
is reported that in Bas Uele, MONUSCO is only in Dingila, not
in such places as Banda and Anga.
Second, a
senior Indian diplomat tells Inner City Press that India told the UN in
advance that one of its two helicopter contracts with MONUSCO would not
be renewed upon its expiration. "So where was the UN's Plan B?" he
asked -- watch this site.
Victims of the LRA, UN protection not shown, excuses everywhere
Third, while
the UN response brags
about providing logistical support to the Congolese Army, FARDC, it
is reported that it is the FARCD's “Ours” battalion which since
November 2009 has also terrorized residents of Bas Uele, including by
committing rapes.
On
this -- sexual
violence as a tool of war -- Inner City Press on August 6 asked Ms.
Margot Wallstrom, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General
on Sexual Violence in Conflict, what the UN and her office have been
doing to protect civilians from the LRA. Video here,
from Minute
24:02.
Ms.
Wallstrom
spoke about the benefits of the International Criminal Court
indictments, saying that the ICC's cases will now included those who
did not stop rape. Video here,
from Minute 26.
Some
wonder
whether those who “didn't stop rape” now include the UN itself.
Watch this site.
, 
