UN
Confirms
Flying DRC
Officials to
Meet Mai Mai,
Says Didn't
Know Topic
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 24 --
The UN flew
Congolese
government
officials to
meet with a
Mai Mai
militia
leader,
Janvier
Karairi,
who afterward
said "they
came to ask me
to form an
alliance with
the army to
fight M23"
mutineers.
On
August 23,
Inner City
Press asked UN
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky,
"given
the history of
criticism [by]
the UN [of]
many of the
Mai Mai
factions, is
it true that
the UN is
assisting the
Government of
the
Congo to
recruit these
militias to
fight another
militia?"
Nesirky
first
referred
the question
to the
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations --
whose chief
Herve Ladsous
has twice said
on camera he
will not
answer any
Inner City
Press
questions --
then on August
24
offered an
amazing
answer.
Nesirky
confirmed
that the UN
Stabilization
Mission in the
Democratic
Republic of
Congo
"provided
transporation
and security"
for
the Congolese
officials to
meet with
Javier and the
Mai Mai, but
said
that MONUSCO
is "not aware
of any
initiative to
recruit Mai
Mai."
So
what did the
UN think the
meeting with
militia leader
Javier was
about?
Especially
AFTER Javier
said publicly
that it was a
request
that what he
says are his
4000 fights to
take up arms
against M23?
Inner
City Press
asked Nesirky
this, quoting
Javier that
"they came to
ask me to form
an alliance
with the army
to fight M23."
Video
here, from
Minute 12:15.
Nesirky
repeated
that MONUSCO
did not know
what the
meeting was
about. But
why then did
they fly
Congolese
government
officials to
the meeting?
What type of
meeting
WOULDN'T the
UN fly
government
officials to?
Nesirky
said,
"ask the DRC."
But it is a UN
question. How
can the
UN ask anyone
to be
accountable,
when it is
not? We'll
have more on
this, which again
highlight how
the UN has
lost its way
in the Congo.
After
nearly being
thrown out of
the country by
President
Joseph Kabila,
the price for
staying in has
been to
slavishly
support the
government and
its often
undisciplined
army, the
FARDC.
As
previously
noted, DPKO
chief Herve
Ladsous has
said openly,
twice on
camera, that
he will not
answer any
Inner City
Press
questions.
Video
here,
at Minute
28:10. And
Ladsous
spokesman
Kieran Dwyer
reiterated
this in
writing,
and on camera.
Video
here,
Minute 6:50.
But
this is a
question that
should be
answered: how
can the UN be
playing a
role, even a
transportation
and
facilitation
and "security"
role, in
recruit a
militia that
the UN itself
has been
highly
critical of?
In
Sudan, the UN provided
free
helicopter
flights to
Ahmed Harun,
indicted by
the
International
Criminal Court
for war
crimes, click
here for
one of Inner
City Press'
exposes on
this.
This
year, Ban
Ki-moon and
Ladsous
accepted as a
Senior Adviser
on
Peacekeeping
Operations the
Sri Lankan
general
Shavendra
Silva,
whose
battalion is
depicted in
Ban's own
Panel of
Experts report
as engaged in
war crimes.
Ladsous
specifically
refused to
answer a
question about
Silva - this
was the first
time Ladsous
said, "I will
not answer
questions"
from Inner
City Press. Video
here,
at Minute
28:10
But in
the Congo, the
UN is going
"hands on,"
flying
Congolese
officials to
meetings with
a militia
leader who
says the
meeting was to
recruit him
and his 4000
fighters to
join the
bloody fight
with the M23?
How much lower
can DPKO go,
under Ladsous?
How much more
unaccountable
can this UN
become? Watch
this site.
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