UN Copter
Downed in DRC Noted By UNSC As Questions
UNanswered From Press
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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UN GATE / SDNY,
April 1 –
The day before a UN
helicopter was downed in the
Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Inner City Press
e-mailed questions including
about the DRC to 20 at the UN:
"On DRC and
Uganda, what are the comments
and actions if any of SG
Guterres on that Hundreds of
Congolese have fled into
Uganda following rebel attacks
on their homes.
Officials in North Kivu
province said M23 fighters
stormed Tchanzu and Runyoni
villages. A Congolese
army base was reportedly
attacked. Eyewitnesses
say there has been fierce
fighting between the rebels
and government troops.
The M23, which is mainly made
up of ethnic Tutsis, used to
be a major fighting force in
eastern DR Congo, seizing the
regional capital Goma in
2012. It later engaged
in talks with the Congolese
government but says its
demands have never been
met."
Those
receiving this question were
Spokespeople Stephane
Dujarric, Farhan Haq, Eri
Kaneko and others, the
Department of Global
Communications' Melissa
Fleming, SG Antonio Guterres,
DSG Amina J. Mohammed and
others.
Not one of
them answered.
Before noon
on March 29, Inner City Press
e-mailed the same UN parties,
and Mona Juul of the Norway
Mission of the UN: " On
DRC on which each of you
declined to respond to Inner
City Press' March 28, 2022
written questions as on Reena
Ghelani, what now are the
comments and actions if any of
SG Guterres on that on Monday,
a spokesman for the DR Congo's
South Kivu governor accused
Rwandan forces of assisting
the rebels to attack Congolese
army positions and villages in
Rutshuru territory.
General Sylvain Ekenge said
that two men, allegedly
soldiers from the Rwandan
army, had been captured during
the fighting. But Rwanda
dismissed the allegations,
saying that its army was not
in any way involved in the
neighboring
country."
Again, no answer
at all. Then a helicopter with
"peacekeepers" from Russia and
Serbia and a Pakistani crew
was shot down.
Two days later
the UN Security Council, under
presidency of UK Ambassador
Barbara Woodward who canceled
her April 1 press conference
without spokesman Mungo
Woodifield answers Inner City
Press request to ask
questions, this: "The members
of the Security Council
expressed their deep concern
over the crash of the United
Nations Organization
Stabilisation Mission in the
Democratic Republic of the
Congo (MONUSCO) helicopter
that occurred on 29 March 2022
in North Kivu, which resulted
in the death of eight
peacekeepers from Pakistan,
the Russian Federation and the
Republic of
Serbia. The
members of the Security
Council expressed their
deepest condolences to the
families of the victims, to
Pakistan, the Russian
Federation and the Republic of
Serbia and to the United
Nations.
The members of the Security
Council, noting ongoing
efforts in this regard, urged
the Secretary General, MONUSCO
and the Congolese authorities,
to conduct swift, thorough and
transparent investigations
into the crash of the MONUSCO
helicopter, in association
with relevant
troop-contributing countries."
No credible
investigation while banning
Press.
***
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