By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 6 -- Fifteen
months after
two units of
the Congolese
Army committed
over 100 rapes
at Minova,
"Sexual
Violence in
Conflict" was
the topic of a
panel discussion
at the UN on
March 6.
The UN's envoy
on the topic,
Zainab
Bangura,
praised
Congolese
president
Joseph Kabila
for his new
focus on rape.
But have there
been any
convictions at
all for the
100 rapes 15
months ago.
US Ambassador
Samantha Power
spoke
movingly, also
citing the US'
bilateral
training. But
one of the two
units involved
in the rapes,
the 391st
Battalion, was
trained by the
US.
To her credit,
and as Inner
City Press
first reported,
Power raised
the Minova
rapes to
Kabila during
the Security
Council's
French-led
trip on
October. But
what progress
if any has
been made since
then?
The Enough
Project, which
ran the event,
promised that
questions like
this one,
submitted on
paper in the
room and on
Twitter, will
be answered.
We'll see.
The head of UN
Peacekeeping Herve
Ladsous dodged Press questions about the
Minova rapes
for months,
even directing
his
spokesperson
to seize the
microphone so
the questions
couldn't be
asked. Click
here for that
video.
On March 6
Ladsous was at
it again,
refusing to answer
a Press
question about
allowing a
UN-listed
child soldier
recruiter into
"his" mission
on Mali and prospectively
in the Central
African
Republic. At
the UN,
grandiose
speeches are
given, but too
often there is
little follow
through and no
accountability.
Here's
a place to start:
the US-trained
391st
Battalion of
the Congolese
Army FARDC,
which took
part in the
mass rape at
Minova.
That was more
than 14 months
ago, and yet
at a February
press
conference by
the UN Mission
in the Congo
MONUSCO, it
was reported
that in the
already
delayed
interview of
victims in
Minova,
interviewers
spoke with
barely a
quarter of the
more than 200
listed
victims. Still
no justice.
Again: the
391st
Battalion, one
of two charged
with the
Minova rapes,
was trained by
the United
States. (Click
here for
comment the US
Mission to the
UN
provided to
Inner City
Press, which
also first
reported that
Ambassador
Samantha Power
raised Minova
to Joseph
Kabila in
October.)