After
Ladsous
Stonewall on
Pinga, UN in
Geneva
Acknowledges
Heads,
Grenades
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 27 --
Amid chaos and
some UN
failure in
Eastern
Congo, the
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations has
ranged from
blocking
questions
to answering
them late
and
incompletely.
But one
benefit of the
structure of
the UN system
is that there
are
overlapping
mandates,
joint work,
other places
to ask.
After
twice being
blocked from
getting
answers from,
or even
formally
posing
questions to,
DPKO chief
Herve Ladsous,
and with a
long delay
in responses
to written
questions,
Inner City
Press posed
some
different but
related
questions to
the Office of
the Human
Commissioner
for Human
Rights in
Geneva.
Yesterday
we
published,
upon receipt,
OHCHR
spokesman Rupert
Colville's
explanation of
the UN's
stated Human
Rights Due
Diligence
Policy
(even if DPKO's
belated
answers, today,
make the
policy less
than
meaningful).
Now
we have this
information,
also from
OHCHR (along
with a HCHR op-ed),
in response to
Inner City
Press'
question about
a reported
incident in
which a local
Mayi Mayi
group -- Mai
Mai Cheka
-- "allegedly
threw the
heads of
decapitated
civilians at
the UN base in
the village of
Pinga,
Walikale
territory,
North Kivu
province."
The
response, from
Geneva, is
that "the UN
did receive
reports of
decapitated
heads,
possibly of
opposing
combatants,
being paraded
on
sticks in the
village on two
separate
incidents on
13 and 19
September
2012.
"The
UN has
documented a
series of
violent
incidents,
mainly between
rival
Mayi Mayi
groups and
between the
Congolese army
and Mayi Mayi
groups
between the
end of August
and November.
UN
peacekeepers
on several
occasions
actively used
force in order
to protect
civilians at
immediate risk
from these
clashes. For
example, on 3
October UN
peacekeepers
threw two hand
grenades in
order to stop
combatants
from
harming
civilians in
the vicinity
of the UN
base. In
November, two
peacekeepers
were injured
as they tried
to assist some
500 civilians
who had
gathered at
the UN base in
Pinga.
"MONUSCO
deployed
a Joint
Protection
Team to
Kashuga,
Kalembe and
Pinga from
24 to 28
September
2012. The
multidisciplinary
mission which
included
representatives
of civil
society
organizations
raised several
recommendations
including the
deployment of
a UNJHRO
investigation
mission. The
latter was
promptly
planned but
had to be
canceled due
to security
constrains in
and around
Pinga at the
time. However,
following the
recommendations
of the Joint
Protection
Team ,
additional
FARDC units
were
re-deployed to
the area and
Egyptian
peacekeepers
were also sent
from Beni to
Pinga to
reinforce the
local
COB."
So,
this
information
exists.
But when Inner
City Press asked DPKO
chief
Ladsous what
the UN was
doing to
protect
civilians in
Pinga, he
refused to
answer the
question.
Even after it
was submitted
in
writing in New
York, no
answer has
come. Only
from Geneva.
So it goes
at the UN.
, 
