UN
Leaps to
Congolese
Army's Defense
After Ladsous
Refused All
Questions
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 30 --
The
dysfunction of
the UN and its
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations is
on display,
now regarding
a leaked document
concerning the
UN's partners
in the
Congolese
Army, and the
FDLR militia.
Inner
City Press on
January 29
asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey about the
document. The
question was
put to him
because DPKO
chief Herve
Ladsous has
said openly
and on camera
that he will
not answer any
Inner City
Press
questions.
Ladsous
directed
his spokesman
to grab the
UNTV
microphone to
try to stop
Inner City
Press from
asking a
question about
the Congolese
Army and the
126 rapes in
Minova.
Since
DPKO from the
top down will
not answer any
questions,
question are
asked at the
UN noon
briefing. Of
late, despite
"we'll look
into it"
interim
responses, no
answers come.
On
January 29
Inner City
Press asked
the UN about
"an e-mail
from within
MONUSCO which
shows
awareness by
the UN that
FARDC
Congolese army
units are in
support of
actively
helping the
movements of
the FDLR,
i.e., the
militia in
eastern Congo
that is linked
with the
genocide in
Rwanda, and I
wanted to know
what is the
UN’s
response."
But
neither then
nor in the 23
hours since
did the UN
provide any
response. Del
Buey said,
"we’ll have to
speak with
DPKO on that,
but have you
spoken with
DPKO
yourself?"
Inner
City Press: I
have, as you
know, I have
asked Mr.
Ladsous
questions a
number of
times that he
refused to
answer.
Deputy
Spokesperson:
But, have you
spoken with
DPKO, the
media people
of DPKO?
Inner
City Press:
Last time, my
last interface
with them was
them taking
the
microphones,
so questions
couldn’t be
asked at the
Security
Council
stakeout, so I
am asking you.
Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman
said, "Well,
I’ll have to
find out." But
for 23 hours,
nothing.
Instead,
from
Kinshasa and
in French, the
MONUSCO
mission has
chosen to
belatedly
comment on the
document, and
attack Inner
City Press in
the process.
For now only
say, DPKO and
Ladsous have
only
themselves to
blame.
The
extraordinary
refusal to
answer any
Press
questions,
even a
softball
question on
Abyei in
September, and
now failure to
provide
answers
through Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesperson's
office casts
MONUSCO's
belated
protest in a
different
light.
And what about
the 126 rapes
in Minova on
which Ladsous
had refused
questions,
even taking
friendly media
into the hall?
Video
here,
slightly more
elaborated
here.
Did the rapes
not
happen?
A fish rots
from the head.
From
the UN's
January 30,
2013
transcript in
New York:
Deputy
Spokesperson
Eduardo Del
Buey: I was
asked
yesterday
about a
document,
attributed to
the United
Nations
Organization
Stabilization
Mission in the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo
(MONUSCO),
which would
confirm a
cooperation
between the
Forces
démocratiques
de
libération
du Rwanda
(FDLR) and the
Forces
armées
de la
République
démocratique
du Congo
(FARDC). The
Mission says
that the
document is a
falsification
and there is
no doubt that
the purpose of
this venture
is to
discredit the
Congolese
Armed Forces.
The UN Mission
strongly
denounces this
attempt at
misinforming
the public. We
have a press
release with
more details
in our office.
Inner
City Press:
Thanks, I have
seen the
MONUSCO press
release and I
have a couple
of questions.
One is a
longer-standing,
outstanding
FARDC
question,
which is about
these rapes
that happened
in Minova all
the way back
in November.
And I am
wondering, I
have gone back
over what,
even what Mr.
[Hervé]
Ladsous said
at the
stakeout. He
said that, by
now, the probe
would be
finished, so
what I wanted
to know is:
where is the
probe? What
findings were
made of which
units of the
FARDC were
involved in
the rapes?
Does MONUSCO
still work
with them, and
it is
interesting
that they
respond so
quickly to
defend the
FARDC, but
where is their
finding about
the rapes that
they
acknowledge
took place
when the FARDC
controlled
Minova?
Deputy
Spokesperson
Del Buey:
Well, Matthew,
I think you
will
understand
there is a
slight
difference in
the amount of
time it takes
to investigate
a major crime
and the amount
of time it
takes to
investigate a
paper that has
been
falsified.
When I have
the
information on
that, I will
get back to
you.
Since
November,
we've been
waiting. Watch
this site.
, 
