By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 3 --
The Democratic
Republic of
the Congo
conflict
mineral
disclosure
provisions of
the US
Dodd-Frank Act
were debated
Thursday night
in New York.
Meanwhile, the
UN
Security
Council and
scribes
hand-picked by
France headed
to the DRC, by
way of former
colonial power
Belgium.
The
law and
100-page SEC
rule are being
challenged by
the US Chamber
of Commerce in
the DC Court
of Appeal. Tom
Quaadman of
the Chamber, a
former chief
of staff for
Rep Vito
Fossella,
mocked the law
as having no "de
minimus"
exception; he
said it would
cost business
from $6 to $8
billion.
He said gold
is now being
sold through
Uganda; he
referred
off-handedly
to "the M23
coming out of
Rwanda."
Julie
Murray,
representing
Amnesty
International,
called the
SEC's rule
well reasoned.
She regretted
that Sasha
Lezhnev of the
Enough Project
had not been
able to make
it up to New
York from DC.
Inner City
Press asked
the panel
about UN
Security
Council
sanctions, and
the impact of
the UN
peacekeeping
mission(s)
there. Julie
Murray said
the case is
only about
administrative
law and the
First
Amendment.
Quaadman said
the Chamber is
pointing to a
lack of
clarity in
cost / benefit
analysis
(something the
UN rarely
engaged in.) Video here and embedded below.
A
representative
of Friends of
the Congo
pointed out
that UN
Peacekeepers
in the Congo
had, for
example, sold
guns for gold;
he raised
questions
about the
roles of the
UK and the US
(he
specifically
named Susan
Rice.) We'll
have more on
this.
Inner
City Press,
which applied
through UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
Office of the
Spokesman to
go on and
cover the
Security
Council trip,
as it did in
2010 and 2008.
But this time
it was denied.
Ban's
Spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
told Inner
City Press, on camera, that the decision was made
"in
consultation"
with France,
the lead
mission on the
entire trip.
Why
does the UN
let a colonial
powerhouse,
alone, pick
which media
get to cover
Central Africa
and the DR
Congo, where
the UN has a
billion dollar
peacekeeping
mission
ultimately run
by former
French
diplomat Herve
Ladsous, the
fourth
Frenchman in a
row to head UN
Peacekeeping?
France, whose
Permanent
Representative
Gerard Araud
ended up not
even going on
the trip,
chose Reuters,
along with a
procedural
Council
reporter and,
ironically, Voice of
America.
John Kerry is
on VOA's
Broadcasting
Board of
Governors; a
State
Department
official
gushed about
the VOA
correspondent
heading to
Africa. For
what?
And
while waiting
for answer to
those, and
what
information
goes from the
trip, we ask
if for example
US Ambassador
Samantha Power
will be
checking on
this issue
while on the
trip? Will the
Security
Council visit
Minova, site
of 135 rapes
by the UN's
partners in
the Congolese
Army in
November 2012?
Watch this
site.
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