By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 8 -- The
day after the
UN was unable
to provide
Inner City
Press any
response to
its question
about the
Lord's
Resistance
Army, Joseph
Kony and
#Kony2012,
Inner City
Press was able
to to put
question on
camera to
Betty Atuku
Bigombe,
Ugandan State
Minister for
Water
Resources. Video
here, from
Minute 11:12.
Inner
City Press
asked Ms.
Bigombe, who
has been
involved in
trying to end
the LRA's
violence, what
she thought of
the UN's
response, and
of the
campaign.
In
response on
camera she
said, "my
reaction is
that, the UN
came in late.
For more than
a decade, the
issue of the
LRA was swept
behind the
carpet,
everybody
looked at
Uganda as a
success
story.. in
fighting HIV
Aids, so no
one wanted to
talk about
Northern
Uganda."
After
the staged UN
TV stakeout,
Inner City
Press asked
Bigombe more
about the
campaign,
including
criticism of
it. She
replied, "it
sets a
precedent,
we'll see
which
direction it
takes... We
should do
everything
possible to
stop genocide
and the
perpetrators."
Inner
City Press
then asked her
about the UN
system's
funding of
violent
disarmament of
Karamojong
pastoralists
in the
Karomoja
region of
Uganda. She
said, "I'm
amazed you
know so
much... There
was violations
of human
rights, it
wasn't
properly done.
[The UN and
UNDP] did fund
it, they
didn't want to
own it, the
way it was
designed had
flaws. Until
they woke up
and Uganda
army had been
abusing... Two
wrongs don't
make a right."
But
in fact the UN
and UNDP tried
to deny they
were funding
this violent
disarmament,
then tried to
eject Inner
City Press for
reporting on
it. This has
continued.
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
Long
after Inner
City Press asked, UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
Spokesperson's
Office sent
ICP the
following:
Subject:
LRA/Kony
From: UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at] un.org
Date: Thu, Mar
8, 2012 at
11:03 AM
To:
Matthew.Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
On
LRA/Kony:
The
Secretary-General
reported at
length and in
detail on the
LRA/Kony in
November 2011.
Yeah,
and that was
more than
three months
ago. Watch
this site.
, 
