UNITED
NATIONS, June
10 --
Sometimes the
UN plays
musical
chairs;
sometimes
it allows
post-holders
to abuse the
system to try
to keep their
positions and
discredit
their critics.
Sometimes,
as in the
Democratic
Republic of
Congo, the UN
is engaged at
cross-purposes
in
both at the
same time.
Today
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
announced
that Martin
Kobler, Ban's
envoy in Iraq,
will be moving
to Kinshasa
to replace
Roger Meece as
head of the
MONUSCO
mission there.
By
any objective
measure, Meece
has been a
failure. The
DRC slid back
into conflict
under his
tenure; the UN
partners with
Congolese
army
units which
then engaged
in mass rape
in Minova.
Despite
a
stated zero
tolerance and
human rights
due diligence
policy, the UN
has not
suspended
support to
these units,
the 391st and
41st
Battalions.
Nor has the UN
provided the
Minova rape
accountability
update Inner
City Press
asked for on
May 29 (video
here) and
May 30.
Can
Kobler do
better? Could
he do worse?
Meanwhile
on June 10 at
the UN,
Inner City
Press asked
Nesirky to
confirm that
Ban's
Dublin-based
Great Lakes
envoy Mary
Robinson has
taken on as an
adviser on
Frederico
Borello,
author of
several
anti-Rwanda
articles similar
to
those of
former
sanctions
Group of
Experts
coordinator
Steve Hege.
Nesirky
said he would
check with the
Department of
Political
Affairs.
Hege
used his final
report to take
shots at some
of those who
criticized
his
objectivity,
even naming
them in his
report. To
many that
seemed
like an abuse.
Footnote:
now
Hege's
pot-shots have
been echoed in
Geneva, where
the Special
Rapporteur on
Palestine has
in his report,
debated today
in the Human
Rights
Council,
denounced a
"series
of
defamatory
attacks
demeaning his
character,
repeatedly
distorting
his views on
potentially
inflammatory
issues. This
smear campaign
has
been carried
out in
numerous
settings,
including at
the Human
Rights
Council, as
well as
university
venues where
the Special
Rapporteur
gives lectures
in his
personal
capacity on
subjects
unrelated to
the
mandate. The
lobby groups’
smears have
been sent to
diplomats and
United Nations
officials,
including the
Secretary-General,
who has
apparently
accepted the
allegations at
face value,
issuing public
criticism of
the Special
Rapporteur."
Should
a UN Special
Rapporteur,
even if (mis)
described as
"honorary,"
or the
coordinator of
a sanctions
Group of
Experts, use a
UN report
to denounce
his or her
critics, and
as here try to
get them
dis-accredited?
The closed-in
world of the
UN need more,
not fewer,
voices. Watch
this site.
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