As
UN Brags of
691 DRC
Police, from
Minova, Won't
Answer on
Rapes, Units
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 7 --
After what the
UN now says
were at least
70
rapes while
the Congolese
Army and
National
Police
retreated to
Minova in late
November, the
UN still refuses
to say which
units and
regiments were
in Minova at
that time.
It
is a key
question,
since the UN
claims to have
a
conditionality
and
Human Rights
Due Diligence
Policy which
precludes it
from working
with or
supporting
those who
commit abuses
such as rape.
So far, the
UN has refused
to state which
Congolese Army
or FARDC units
it works
with.
But
now, after the
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations led
by Herve
Ladsous
refused for
the second day
in a row to
confirm or
deny the
presence in
Minova of
particular
regiments (the
802 and the
1001),
now the UN
Mission in the
Congo has
blithely
announced that
691
Congolese
police from
Bukavu and
Minova are now
in Goma. Click
here
(in French).
So
the UN knows
the precise
number of
police, but
not what
regiments or
units they are
in?
Back
on November
27, Inner City
Press asked
Ladsous about
the rapes in
Minova, and he
outright
refused to
answer,
instead
shepherding
chosen
correspondents
out into the
hall. Video
here.
Then
on November
30, across
First Avenue
from the UN,
when Inner
City
Press asked
the question
in a more open
setting,
Ladsous
offered only
an indirect
answer about
the Human
Rights Due
Diligence
Policy --
which the UN
now claims
would apply in
Mali -- but refused
to answer
Inner City
Press' follow
up if he would
disclose the
numbers of the
Congolese Army
units.
Ladsous
resurfaced
in Paris,
making
statements
about the
possible
mission to
Mali that to
many did not
sound like UN
statements.
Inner City
Press
has asked in
what capacity
Ladsous spoke
and for whom,
and if there
is a
transcript.
Twenty hours
later, there
has been no
answer. Watch
this site.
, 
