In
Cote d'Ivoire
Like DRC, UN
Airbrushes
DPKO Out, In
Niambly As
Minova
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 1 --
Who will hold
the UN
accountable
when its
personnel
stand by
during murder
or rape?
When
top UN
Peacekeeper
Herve Ladsous
took questions
on November 30
across
First Avenue
from the UN,
he wouldn't
answer Inner
City Press'
follow-up if his
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
will ever
disclose which
battalions of
the Congolese
Army,
which the UN
supports, were
present in
Minova in
connection
with dozens of
rapes.
In
Cote d'Ivoire,
Ladsous' DPKO
has twice
committed to
investigating
its
peacekeepers'
inaction or
complicity
during the murder of
perceived
Gbagbo
supporters in
the Niambly
Internally
Displaced
Persons camp
in July. Click
here for July
21 story
by Inner City
Press; here
for next-day
follow up
story with
UN email to
Inner City
Press that
DPKO was "conducting
a full
investigation
of the
incident."
After this
first promise,
UN envoy Bert
Koenders
immediately
undercut
it by saying
his
peacekeepers
did nothing
wrong. He "dismissed
allegations
that
peacekeepers
failed in
their mandate
to protect
civilians."
Click here for
July 27 story
by Inner City
Press.
Then
after the
discovery of
more and more
bodies in
wells around
the camp,
the UN's
Ivan Simonovic
today issued a
press release
calling for an
investigation
-- by the
Ouattara
government. He
did not
advance the
questions
about the UN's
role, and
where the two
promised UN
investigations
are.
Inner City
Press asked
the UN's
special
rapporteur on
IDPs Chaloka
Beyani about
Niambly, and
he said the UN
peacekeepers'
rules of
engagement
were
implemented so
as to not fire
on non-state
aggressors.
Click here for
October 21
story by
Inner City
Press.
Beyond
describing UN
peacekeepers
in Niambly
standing by
just as they
would in
November in
Goma in the
DRC, Beyani
told Inner
City Press the
"rules of
engagement of
UN
peacekeeping
forces do not
allow them
open fire
civilians if
civilians are
attacking
other
civilians." He
told Inner
City Press
he'd heard the
same of DPKO
missions in
South Sudan
and
Afghanistan.
DPKO denied it
-- but some
ask, whom to
believe? An
independent
human rights
special
rapporteur, or
Ladsous' DPKO
given its
current
record?
The
UN cites
immunity, for
example for
peacekeepers
introducing
cholera
to Haiti. But
the UN, at
least Ladsous'
DPKO, won't
credibly
investigate
itself.
While
the Congolese
Army's role in
the rapes at
Minova becomes
more and
more clear,
Ladsous
insisted on
Friday that
the raped
happened
during
a "fluid"
situation.
Then he
wouldn't
answer if he
will
ever disclose
which FADRC
battalions
were there,
such that the
UN's
supposed Human
Rights Due
Diligence
Policy can be
assessed.
And
where is the
UN's
investigation
of Niambly?
Maybe
Simonovic and
the Office of
the High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights
should get
more involved
and answer.
Watch this
site.
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