UNICEF
Dodges
Questions of Congo Mass Rape and Rwanda MDG Irony
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 7 -- The UN and many of its NGO “partners” run
scared of governments, even on issues like child poverty and mass
rape. On Tuesday at the UN, new UNICEF chief Tony Lake presented
findings that governments could benefit by focusing more on the
poorest children.
Beside him was the Chief Operating Officer of Save
the Children, which in its own linked report criticized countries
like India, Burkina Faso and Rwanda for focusing too little on the
poorest quintile of children.
But
when Inner City
Press asked about Rwanda, and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's
decision to name its president Paul Kagame as the co-chair of the UN
MDG Advocacy Group, the Save the Children COO Ms Miles said they work
with government, they understood the initial focus on low hanging
fruit, which some call cherry picking. She did not address the irony
of Rwanda and Kagame. Nor did Tony Lake.
Inner
City Press
asked Lake what UNICEF was doing in the Congo, in
light of the mass
rapes scandal. E-mail traffic provided to Inner City Press shows
that
such UN agencies as UNDP and FAO were informed of the rape(s) on July
30, but do not show UNICEF.
Lake
gave a
generic answer about monitoring, referring and tracking cases, and
said that UNICEF does “name and shame.” Video here,
from Minute 37:50.
But the
Congolese
government has in its army the FARDC noted rapists like Colonel
Zimulinda / Zimurinda, Bosco Ntaganda and Peter Kerim. Has UNICEF
named and shamed them?
UN's Ban and Tony Lake, action on DRC rape, Rwanda
MDGs not shown
Lake said he has approached UNICEF's donors
about these issues. We'll see.
The
UN briefing
room was packed for the press conference, largely with UNICEF
staffers. Perhaps it was to make Lake feel comfortable. UNICEF has an
enormous public relations staff - but to have so many of them in one
place at one time, when for example they refused to answer questions
about child malnutrition in Darfur only weeks ago, was surprising.
Watch this site.
* * *
On
Congo
Rape Scandal, Khare Spins July 30 E-mail, Congo Army Rapes
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 7 -- On the Congo rape
scandal, the UN's deputy
chief of peacekeeping Atul Khare on Tuesday afternoon delivered a
self-serving speech about how the UN Mission MONUSCO could not have
stopped the 242 rapes in North Kivu between July 30 and August 2.
Khare
said that on
“30 July OCHA received unconfirmed information about possible
attacks by FDLR on Mpofi... An unconfirmed case of rape in Mpofi was
also reported... message was transmitted to humanitarian workers and
NGOs by OCHA” in Goma.
Inner
City Press
has obtained this July 30 e-mail, including the list of UN and NGO
individuals to which it was addressed. Each has been asked a series
of questions by Inner City Press:
“Upon
receipt of the e-mail, what did you do? To whom did you pass the
information? What was done in response? What is the policy of your
organization on such reports of rape or other war crimes?”
Some
responses
have arrived, others are awaited, and will be reported soon --
including those who did not respond.
Meanwhile,
Khare's
briefing mentioned ten rapes by the FARDC -- the Congolese Army -- in
Uvira on August 17, which he said the Security Council had asked him
to look into, during the Council's August 26 session.
This
is troubling
not only because Congo's own army is involved.
UN's Ban and Khare: I shall not tell a lie? July 30 e-mail not shown
While Khare and DPKO
are accused of withholding information from the Council, some now
argue that the Council withheld from the public information about
rapes by its partner, the Congolese Army.
Margot
Wallstrom,
in her testimony, talked about partnering with the Congolese
government. On her way in, Inner City Press asked, Did MONUSCU have
your cell phone number?
In
the UN,
everyone has each others numbers, she answered, apparently meaning
that the landline of her (unoccupied) office was available to
MONUSCO. For shame. Watch this site.
Update of 4:41 pm --
just after Khare's presention, the UN Spokesperson's Office belatedly
confirmed the text of the July 30 e-mail, which Inner City Press
published word for word last week. Why now?
Update of 4:47 pm --
here's why the UN finally confirmed July 30 email(s) -- Khare called
the information uncomfirmed, but the OCHA email, obtained by Inner City
Press and published last week, refers without qualification to the rape:
“Message
urgent pour les humanitaires -- Selon l’ANR Walikale, la
localité
de Mpofi 52km de Walikale vient de tomber aux mains des FDLR. Une
femme y a été violée. Les humanitaires sont
priés de na pas
emprunter cette route pour le moment.”
[“Urgent
message
for
the humanitarians - According to ANR Walikali, the
locality of Mpofi, 52 kilometers from Walikali, has fallen into the
hands of the FDLR. A woman there has been raped. Humanitarians are
asked not to use that route for the moment.”]
Now, the UN releases what is says was the underlying DSS email, which
refers to "one woman was reportedly
raped." Note: that's not what OCHA said.
Update
of 5:37 pm -- a source in the consultations says Khare apologized again
behind closed doors. The French have proposed a Presidential Statement.
There will be a follow-up Council meeting on lessons learned. UN
accountability? Not shown.
Update
of 6:27 pm-- "elements to the press" on DRC have been agreed to, and
will be read out once the Council finishes an "any other business"
session on Darfur. Who will pay for the cell phone repeaters? No one
knows. Much talk of sacntions on the rapists. But the DRC Permanent
Representative told Inner City Press to the side of the stakeout that
those responsible have no assets outside of the forest...
Update
of 7:42 pm -- finally, the Turkish Ambassador came out and read a
statement. Inner City Press asked him about the 10 rapes by the
Congolese Army. It is a very serious issue, he said.
Susan Rice said that the follow up meeting is at the US'
request. Inner City Press asked about the 10 rapes by FARDC (and about
Darfur). Ambassador Rice said that the US took seriously the clean up
of the Congolese Army, that five names were given to the government.
Inner City Press asked if Bosco Ntaganda, indicted by the ICC, isn't
still with the Congolese Army. Not to my knowledge, Ambassador Rice
answered.
Finally Atul Khare came to the microphone. On this issue, Inner
City Press asked about Ntaganda, who former UN official Patrick
Cammaert says walks freely around Goma, and about Colonel Zimulinda /
Zimurinda. Khare mentioned officials he had met with, said that
the 10 rapes will be prosecuted, but did not answer about Ntagana or
Mr. Z.
Inner City Press asked about the July 30 email, since Khare has said
that even one rape is "a little bit too much." Khare said that in
response to the email, about Mpofi, a patrol went out, and managed to
get through to speak to the FARDC. Khare, to his credit, stayed and
answered questions about Darfur, to be reported on this site later
today.
* * *
In
Congo,
July
30 UN E-mail Spoke of FDLR & Rape, 22 Rapes Reported
to UN Aug 6
By Matthew Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September
2 -- As the Congo rape
scandal develops, the UN's
mis-statements become ever more clear. Roger Meece, the chief of the
UN Mission in the Congo (MONUSCO) told the Press that the first
MONUSCO knew of the rapes was on August 12.
Then
there was an account
of a July 30 e-mail and an August 6 report by the International
Medical Corps. Inner City Press has now seen the e-mails, which the
UN initially said it couldn't find.
The
July 30
e-mail, from the UN's Agustin Rwandarugari to a variety of UN and NGO
parties, said in French:
“Message
urgent pour les humanitaires -- Selon l’ANR Walikale, la
localité
de Mpofi 52km de Walikale vient de tomber aux mains des FDLR. Une
femme y a été violée. Les humanitaires sont
priés de na pas
emprunter cette route pour le moment.”
[“Urgent
message
for
the humanitarians - According to ANR Walikali, the
locality of Mpofi, 52 kilometers from Walikali, has fallen into the
hands of the FDLR. A woman there has been raped. Humanitarians are
asked not to use that route for the moment.”]
On
September 2 in
New York, Inner City Press asked UN acting Deputy Spokesman Farhan
Haq to square this July 30 e-mail with Mr. Meece's claim that MONUSCO
only knew of rape from August 12 onwards. Video here,
from
Minute
10:33.
Haq
tried to say
that Meece had meant with “verifiable” information. But UN
official Rwandarugari's above quoted July 30 e-mail, labeled
“urgent,” said the village was in rebel hands and a woman had
been raped.
In
fact, Mr.
Rwandarugari was told, at the IMC compound in Walikali on August 6,
of at least 22 rapes in Luvungi alone. He went there after he heard
that an IMC convoy had been ambushed.
Therefore he
and the UN got
notice of 22 rapes from a source, the IMC, which the UN has
acknowledged as credible. This was verifiable information, on a date
far in advance of the August 12 date used by Mr. Meece.
Inner
City
Press
asked, what happens now?
UN's Meece, explanation of July 30 e-mail and Aug 6
report not shown
Haq continued
to point to the upcoming March
7 briefing (followed by closed door consultations) of the Security
Council by Peacekeeping deputy Atul Khare and Sexual Violence in
Conflict representative Margot Wallstrom.
September's
Council
president,
the Ambassador of Turkey, held a press conference
on Thursday, and Inner City Press asked if he and the Council had
understood, despite the fanfare with which Ms. Wallstrom's office was
set up in March, that it would be inoperative into August 2010, and
become aware of the rapes only 15 (or 22) days after the UN in the
Congo was aware of them. Video here,
from
Minute 17:58.
He
said, you will
hear on March 7. We'll be there -- but where is the accountability?
Watch this site.
Footnote: on
September 2, a month after the mass rapes and a week after being put in
charge of coordinating the UN's response, Ms. Wallstrom greeted Inner
City Press as she walked to a media interview on the second floor of
the UN in New York. Still not in the Congo, someone said...
, 
