UNITED
NATIONS, April
16 -- One of
the two
Congolese Army
rape units in
Minova was
“trained by
Americans,”
and a general
has identified
33 suspected
rapists, UN
envoy Zainab
Bangura told
Inner City
Press
on Tuesday. Video here, on the latter.
Both
of these
contradict
what the UN
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations,
led by Herve
Ladsous, has
said.
After
Ladsous
repeatedly
refused to
answer Inner
City Press'
questions
about the rape
(November
27, December
7, December
18 and
since), DPKO
told scribes
from Agence
France Presse
and Reuters
that of 12
suspensions
for the
rapes.
But
Bangura on
Tuesday, even
when asked a
second time by
Inner City
Press, said
that at least
33 presumptive
rapists have
been
identified.
Why
would Ladsous'
DPKO still be
low-balling
the number,
after
stonewalling
on the rapes
for more than
four months?
We have
asked, at
10:14 am, and
DPKO has
acknowledged
receipt (while
stating it
does not
understand
what "deadline"
means. We're
watching.)
Bangura
also
told Inner
City Press, on
a follow-up,
that DPKO has
suspended
support to the
two units.
That is not
consistent
with what's
been
publicly said,
and Inner City
Press has
asked DPKO to
confirm or
deny.
Bangura's
answer
to Inner City
Press also
included that
the US
Ambassador to
the DRC told
her that one
of the two
units had been
trained by the
US. What does
that say about
the US'
training?
(Reuters,
whose
scribe
Michelle
Nichols
was present,
may well
present these
Bangura
answers as another
Reuters faux
scoop -- who
knows, maybe
Nichols will
file another faux UN
Security
complaint.)
Inner
City Press
also asked
Bangura if her
office, on
Sexual
Violence and
Conflict,
covers abuse
by UN
Peacekeepers.
No, she said,
there is a
DPKO unit for
that, it is
sexual
exploitation.
But
what about in
Haiti the UN
Peacekeepers
who forcibly
abused or
mock-raped a
boy? Isn't
that abuse?
Inner City
Presss has
asked DPKO
to “name the
five more
recent
repatriations
of UN
Peacekeepers
or
police for
sexual
exploitation
or abuse, or
state why it
will not.”
Bangura
told
Inner City
Press she is
following up
on the muffed
hand-over of
child soldiers
and “war
brides” in the
Central
African
Republic,
that it is
“chaos” there.
A
Department of
Public
Information
official said,
anymore
questions?
This is the
time. So Inner
City Press
asked Bangura
about
allegations
from Sierra
Leone, naming
her, about
Gates / GAVI
funds missing
in
the Ministry
of Health
which she
headed.
Bangura
smiled
and replied
that when, as
Tony Blair's
suggestion,
she took
over the
Ministry of
Health, there
were 88
accountants,
with lack of
clarity who
had signing
authority. The
missing funds,
one of her
aides quickly
added,
pre-dated
Bangura taking
over the
ministry.
Bangura
said,
that's
politics,
people throw
unfair
allegations at
you. And
that, on
personal
experience, is
true. What
Inner City
Press received
about Bangura,
and asked her
in fairness
both to her
and the
sender,
was on the
record.
The UN
Censorship
Alliance, by
contrast,
works
anonymously in
social media
or comments,
or filing
stealth
comments
with UN
Security,
including, by
AFP's Tim
Witcher,
explicitly in
defense of
Ladsous not
getting asked
the type of
questions
Bangura
handled
Tuesday. Watch
this site.
, 
