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UN's Congo Envoy Speaks of Disarmament and Trains, No Comment on China Resource Deals

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, April 15 -- We're not leaving the Congo any time soon, the UN's top envoy to Kinshasa, Alan Doss, told the press on Tuesday. He said roaming armed groups still remain, mentioning Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army and the FDLR, whose fighters the UN is encouraging to disarm and return to Rwanda. Inner City Press asked if those who return to Rwanda have any sort of immunity. For insurrection, yes, came the answer. But not for genocide. Those who would be charged just don't return.

            Inner City Press asked Doss about the critique of the Kinshasa-based newspaper L'Avenir, that Doss met with Rwanda's president Paul Kagame without explaining the outcome. Oh, L'Avenir is often critical of me, Doss said. He said the meetings with Kagame began during a visit by Ban Ki-moon and have continued since. In part these talks concern the repatriation of the ex-Interahamwe.

            A MONUC staffer after the briefing explained that there has been some confusion that a March 15 deadline set meant the commencement of military action. It is just a ratcheting up, he said, just changing the incentives. When the time for military action comes, if it comes, it will be alongside the Congolese army.

            In a recent speech in New Orleans, former UN special envoy Stephen Lewis specifically criticized both Ban and MONUC for not doing enough about rape in the Congo. Doss, without mentioning the speech, spoke about his efforts, which include now filing monthly reports with the Congolese Army about evidence against its soldiers of abuse.

Doss, Mountain and MONUC's Babacar Gaye

            Doss said he served twenty years ago as the UN Development Program resident representative in the Congo; he spoke nostalgically about the train service at that time, which is now intermittent at best. Asked about a pending deal between China and Kinshasa, to build road in exchange for resources, Doss said he hadn't heard about it. "It's on BBC," Inner City Press pointed out. Doss said that the government shouldn't own resources, but should look out for the national interest. As with his meeting with Kagame, it wasn't entirely clear for whom Mr. Alan Doss was speaking.

            Inner City Press asked about the strike of MONUC's national staff and casual day workers. Doss blamed the UN's budget committee, for saying to shift away from "CDWs," of whom there have been 3000 for MONUC. We try, he said. Some say that the least the UN should be doing in the Congo is to treat its workers fairly. We'll see.

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These reports are usually also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.  Video Analysis here

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