UN
Peacekeeping
Dodges on
Mercenaries,
Wastes on
Meece's Mills
in Congo
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 13, updated
with UN non
response --
The UN
Peacekeeping
Mission in the
Congo, MONUSCO,
uses private
military
contractor
Saracen, owned
by the brother
of Uganda's
President
Yoweri
Museveni,
and for a week
has refused to
explain why.
The
UN Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations,
headed by the
fourth
Frenchman in a
row Herve
Ladsous who
now proposes
the use by the
UN of drones,
reportedly to
be provided by
French firm
Thales, only
confirmed the
use of Saracen
late on April
11, two days
after Inner
City Press
asked, and
after Inner
City Press
published the
contract
numbers.
Yet
on April 13,
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
insisted that
DPKO had
explained why
MONUSCO has
hired a
private
military
contractor
owned by
Uganda's
president's
relative.
There was been
no
explanation,
nor accounting
of DPKO's
other
mercenary use.
Now
from the field
comes this
story of
pervasive
corruption,
nepotism and
sleaze at
MONUSCO, after
SRSG Roger
Meece in March
2011 announced
a Quick
Implementation
Project in
mass rape
victimized
Walikale as a
form of
"give-back" to
the community
which the UN
resists in
Haiti, into
which it
introduced
cholera:
A
new scandal is
engulfing
MONUSCO in the
wake of the
infamous mass
rape of 300
women and
girls in Walikale
area in July
2010 right
under the
noses of the
UN
peacekeepers,
exposed by
the Inner City
Press. Two
years later,
not only have
perpetrators
of this crime
not been
brought to
justice but
the a scandal
is brewing up
where Roger
Meece MONUSCO
is adding
"insult to
injury" to the
victims of
this mass rape
by
misappropriating
the money
promised by
MONUSCO for
projects
designated to
help the
victims of
this mass
rape.
1.
Roger
Meece decided
in March last
year to spend
additional
$25,000 on
installation
of five
Chinese
imported rice
/ maize
grilling mills
in five
villages in
the Walikale
area allegedly
for the
benefit of the
raped women.
The so called
Quick
Implementation
project (QIP)
was announced
by Meece with
fanfare on the
International
Women Day on
March 8, 2011
and was
supposed to be
completed
within the
QIPs statuary
requirement of
maximum of
three months
i.e. but no
later than by
the beginning
of June 2011.
The
announcement
ceremony in
Walikale was
designed as
the great
publicity and
propaganda
stint and the
excellent
photo
opportunity
for Roger
Meece and
international
and local mass
media were
invited to
witness the
“generosity”
of MONUSCO
towards the
victims.
2.
But
very soon
after this
highly
publicized
ceremony,
Roger Meece
lost his
interest in
the project as
he was said by
UN staff to
prefer to stay
for long
periods in New
York rather
than in
Kinshasa and
left this case
with his
trusted
Scandinavian
advisers:
Swedish Chief
of Staff Mr.
Ola Almgren
(under whose
supervision of
all QIPs
projects
remain) and
the Danish
Chief of
Personnel. Not
being
supervised by
their boss,
Roger Meece,
the first
thing the CoS
did was not
extent the
contract of
the officer
responsible in
Goma for the
implementation
of the project
and who they
abruptly sent
home in June
2011.
They
even
did not
allowed this
officer to
stay for
additional
three months
on his own, as
a UN Volunteer
to facilitate
the project.
Apparently the
post was
promised to
the friend of
Ola Almgren in
Kinshasa.Almgren
is a "gray
eminence" in
the Meece's
court and is
bragging that
is a friend of
the new D/SG
Jan Eliasson
and therefore
untouchable.
3.
Rape
victims
emboldened by
Mr. Meece's
solemn
promises were
waiting in
vain but when
the promised
mills were not
arriving to
villages by
the end of
June and
instead were
dumped in the
nearby Indian
military base,
the rape
victims staged
a few
demonstrations
in front of
the Indian
military base
in Walikale.
However, their
protests were
quickly
squashed by
MONUSCO with
the full
collusion of
the local
Administrative
authorities
who threatened
and
intimidated
them for
expressing
publicly their
discontent
with MONUSCO.
4.
Now
more than one
year has
passed and the
above QIP
project is in
tatters, the
money
allocated has
been
misappropriated
and the
atmosphere of
the scandal
surrounding
MONUSCO's
failure to
implement the
project is
growing. The
project is the
subject of
jokes among UN
staff in Goma
as 'the
Endless
Implementation
Project'
instead of the
Quick
Implementation
Project, as it
will probably
never be
implemented as
solemnly
promised by
SRSG Meece, as
it is already
more than a
year behind
schedule and
the resources
allocated for
the project
are said to
have been
wasted or
simply stolen.
Recently,
one
of the five
mills had been
apparently
installed in
one of the
villages but
soon became
dysfunctional
due to the
lack of fuel
and spare
parts. In the
meantime, the
rest of what
came to be
known as "the
Meece Chinese
mills" are
getting rusted
and
dysfunctional
left abandoned
inside the
Indian
military base.
The money has
been
squandered and
victims try in
vain reach
MONUSCO with a
complaint.
However
MONUSCO did
everything
possible to
stop them from
complaining
through their
local agents /
employees in
the field.
5.
In
the meantime,
the
embarrassed
Meece, amid
the growing
scandal, tries
to rescue his
reputation and
what remains
from the
project by
attempting to
force the
North Kivu
based Indian
brigade to
install the
mills free of
charge. But
the Indian
military
resist as this
is a civilian
project and
they want to
be paid for
the job for
which somebody
already took
or
misappropriated
the UN money.
Besides, they
think that
Rogers Meece's
idea to
install the
heavy duty
Chinese mills
run by
generators on
expensive and
scarce fuel in
the middle of
the jungle is
simply a crazy
idea. They
would prefer
to install
their own
Indian made
self-sustainable
water mills
that are much
cheaper and
more suitable
for operating
in a tropical
jungle
terrain.
In
the
end, MONUSCO
not only
failed to
implement its
protection of
civilians
mandate, but
is adding
insult to
injury to the
victims by
wasting the
resources
allocated for
improving
their fate. As
the Meece's
Mills scandal
is growing
there is no
end to
sufferings of
the Walikale
victims of the
mass rape, and
the
corruption,
irresponsibility
and impunity
of the MONUSCO
senior
management
continues.
And
so it goes in
the UN of Ban
Ki-moon and Herve "The
Drone" Ladsous.
Again, how do
they justify
hiring a
private
military
contractor
owned by a
relative of
Uganda's
president when
they have over
100,000
peacekeepers?
The
UN
has had no
response on
the "Meece's
Mills"
scandal:
Inner
City Press: I
wanted to ask
on the Congo,
maybe you will
have
something,
maybe DPKO
will have
something on
this.
There is a
controversy in
MONUSCO in
eastern Congo,
Walikale, the
town where
there was mass
rapes and
allegedly with
inaction of
MONUSCO at the
time.
There was a
quick
implementation
or
quick-impact
project set
up, five
grinding mills
into Walikale
to somehow
make life
better there,
but I am
informed that
four of the
five mills
were never
installed, and
that basically
money has been
wasted, they
are rotting,
rusting, and I
just wonder,
since this was
a high-profile
thing at one
time, with the
UN trying to
make good in
Walikale,
what’s the
status of that
project and
why has there
been no
follow-through?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Matthew,
Matthew, you
will
understand I
have to check
into that for
you; I don’t
have that
information
with me.
Watch
this site.
, 
