By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 11
-- With even a
canceled
UN Security
Council
consultation
on Syria
making news
worldwide, on
Tuesday
afternoon more
junior
Security
Council
diplomats
gathered in
the Council,
"on another
topic," as one
told Inner
City Press.
Further
inquiry
found that the
topic was
Africa's Great
Lakes region,
and not just
tomorrow's
briefing.
Rather, Inner
City Press can
now report,
the Security
Council is
planning a
trip in
October to the
Great Lakes
region.
The
itinerary,
Council
sources tell
Inner City
Press, will be
Kinshasa,
Goma, western
Rwanda,
Kigali,
Kampala then
Addis Ababa,
seat of the
African Union.
This
comes after
the Council
approved an
unprecedented
"Force
Intervention
Brigade" with
a mandate of
neutralizing
armed groups
in Eastern
Congo. To
date, the FIB
has only
targeted the
M23 rebels,
and not the
FDLR which is
linked to the
genocide in
Rwanda.
Inner
City Press reported over
the weekend
that the UN's
summary of a
swing through
the region by
a grouping
of its envoy
Mary Robinson,
US envoy Russ
Feingold and
counterparts
from the
African Union
and European
Union
mentioned the
M23 but not
the FDLR,
while that
grouping's
statement
mentioned
neither.
It
hasn't yet
been possible
to ask the UN
to explain, as
Monday's
UN noon
briefing was
canceled for a
five question
press
conference by
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon about
Syria, and
Tuesday's
briefing was
"Syria-only"
to stop at
12:20 pm for a
photo
op by UNDP's
Helen Clark
and Ban
Ki-moon, who
spoke but did
not take any
questions.
At the
Security
Council
stakeout on
Tuesday,
September's
Council
president Gary
Quinlan of
Australia said
of the
September 12
briefing on
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo that
there has been
fighting
there, twice
mentioning the
M23 but not
the FDLR.
Inner
City Press
asked Quinlan
why that would
be, and if he
understood the
Intervention
Brigade's
mandate to be
directed at
the FDLR (and
other armed
groups) as
well.
Quinlan
replied
that he'll
have more to
say on
September 12.
So will we.
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
coverage
of the Great
Lakes has
largely
(beyond the
obvious AFP)
been spoonfed
from France
and others.
One source
well-placed
about the
planned trip
exclusively
told Inner
City Press
that's a goal
of this voyage
too. But will
it work?
, 
