As
UN Proposes New SEA
Strategy, ICP Asks of Kompass, Why Re-Upped
Burundi in CAR
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
March 9 -- When the UN
announced the overdue idea of
not continuing to pay
peacekeepers accused of rape
on March 9, Inner City Press
asked how the proposal would
apply to the 800 Burundian
troops the UN is still paying
in Central African Republic,
despite substantive
allegations of sexual abuse,
and human rights abuses by the
Burundian security forces in
their own country. Video
here.
Lisa Buttenheim,
Assistant Secretary-General
for the Department of Field
Support, answered about the
UN's inquiries and cooperation
with the Burundian
authorities. But on the same
day, UK Ambassador Matthew
Rycroft told
Inner City Press, the Security
Council heard of Burundi's Vice
President Gaston Sindimwo
saying that all UN staff in
the country should be changed.
So can continued UN payments
to these forces be justified
by the Burundian government's
cooperation with the UN?
Inner City
Press also asked about the
place of whistleblowers in
bringing to light the type of
abuse the UN says it wants to
root out, specifically the
case of Anders Kompass who was
fired after he went public
with allegations of sexual
abuse by the French Sangaris
peacekeepers in the Central
African Republic.
Christian Saunders, Director
of the Office of the Under
Secretary-General of the
Department of Management, said
he worked on the UN's new
whistleblower policy but that
the key is "culture," and
assured that whistleblowers
will be protected. There are,
of course, the cases at the
Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights
of Miranda Brown and Emma
Reilly. We'll have more on
this.
(Inner City Press
asked asked ASG Buttenheim,
previously the head of the UN
Mission in Cyprus, about the
recent video-tape depicting UN
peacekeepers stealing from a
watch store. She said she
would look into it; later a UN
Peacekeeping spokesperson told
Inner City Press, But you have
the language. What, that the
UN is looking
into a clear video tape?
UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq
indicated that he would
provide any update to Inner
City Press, which has often
not been the case. Watch this
site.)
Back in
the UNreal world, UN
Peacekeeping not only
continued to pay the Pierre
Nkurunziza government for 800
more Burundians in CAR - but
is even training these abusive
forces in the use of drones.
Are these proposals just hot
air? Will incoming head of UN
Peacekeeping, the fifth
Frenchman in a row Jean-Pierre
Lacroix, actually repatriate
the Burundian which Herve
Ladsous refused to do? This is
just one test.
And it is a
test the UN has been failing.
Three times Inner City Press
has asked the UN's holdover spokesman
about Burundi bragging about
the UN drone training, and
they have refuse to answer.
The UN on
January 17 wouldn't tell Inner
City Press what percentage it
is allowing to be taken from
what it pays for the
Burundians in the Central
African Republic. See below.
At
the confirmation hearing for
Nikki Haley, nominee as US
Ambassador to the UN, on
January 18 Haley three times
said that countries whose
peacekeepers abuse should not
keep getting paid.
Inner City
Press asked the UN and UK
about this, with the example
of the UN having chosen to
keep paying Burundi for 800
troops even after the UN's own
inquiry charged 25 rapes by
Burundian soldiers in the
Central African Republic.
UK
Ambassador Matthew Rycroft
signaled agreement, that
sexual abuse by peacekeepers
should be met by repatriation.
Tweeted
video here. But simply
to be replaced by troops from
the same country, to get paid?
(During Rycroft's
answer, there was a smirk at
the mention of Burundi, from
US state media that's had John
Kerry on its Board - perhaps a
flashback
to Liberians, here. We
may have more on this.)
UN deputy
spokesman Farhan Haq called it
a "case by case" decision, tweeted
video here. But who
decided it, and why? Look
to Herve Ladsous, the
fourth Frenchman in a row atop
UN Peacekeeping.
From January 17: Video
here; UN transcript
here:
Inner City Press:
You may have seen that Burundi
has announced it's going to
withdraw 5,400 troops from
AMISOM [African Union Mission
in Somalia]. They're
saying they're not being
paid. The European Union
says that they, in fact… the
soldiers are being paid, just
the Government is not able to
take a cut of it because they
believe the Government is in
violation of various human
rights issues. What has
the UN, which itself has
peacekeepers… what does it
think about the
standoff? Does it
believe that it's legitimate
for a funder of a peacekeeping
operation to say we'll pay the
people directly so that the
Government doesn't get a cut,
particularly in the case of
Burundi where the UN has
decided not to use Burundian
police officers in CAR
[Central African Republic]?
Deputy Spokesman: Well,
regarding the question of how
these troops are to be paid,
that's a matter that needs to
be resolved ultimately with
the European Union, which is
responsible for the payment
issue, and with the African
Union. So, that's not
really something which we
would comment on. Of
course, we believe that all
troops performing such tasks
need to be paid.
Inner City Press: But,
you have… I guess my question
is, in the Central African
Republic, the UN is still
paying the Pierre Nkurunziza
Government for the use of
these 800-some peacekeepers,
and you have another major,
you know, admittedly, not the
UN, but the EU saying this is
a Government that would, you
know, predictably use this
funding to commit human rights
violations. Does the UN
disagree?
Deputy Spokesman: We… if
we were to receive reports of
problems with payments getting
to our peacekeeping troops, we
would act upon that
accordingly. Whenever we
pay Governments, as a general
policy, we do that on the
assurance that those… that
that money will go to the
peacekeeping troops.
Inner City Press: Just
one final question.
What… what's the UN's
understanding of the
percentage that's kept by
governments before they pass
it through to… because it's
not 100 per cent. I
think you know that. So,
what percentage of withholding
is appropriate, according to
the UN?
Deputy Spokesman: That
not something that we
calculate or advise on.
That a decision made by
different Governments.
So there
are no limits at all? Except
if a government takes 100% and
the peacekeepers complain they
got nothing? We'll have more
on this.
As Burundi "facilitator"
William Mkapa reconvened
talks, the attendees list
obtained by Inner City Press
shows not only Ken
Vitisia, of whom we're
previously written, but
also Francis Mnodolwa.
Inner City Press previously on
December 29 asked the UN's
holdover spokesman Stephane
Dujarric to comment on the
inclusion of an individual
listed in the November 2009 DR
Congo sanctions Group of
Experts report, without
answer. (Dujarric answered
only two and a half of the 22
questions Inner City Press
submitted: and those only
to defend Ban Ki-moon and
himself.)
Now, from
Paragraph 74 of that report:
"The Group has
been informed by several
sources, including a source
close to Mr. Ndagundi, that he
has close links to the ruling
Counseil national pour la
défense de la
démocratie-forces pour la
défense de la démocratie
(CNDD-FDD) party in
Burundi.. Mr. Ndagundi.s
Burundian telephone records
also show 27 communications
from April to September 2009
between himself and the number
used by Francis Ndoluwa, the
ambassador of the United
Republic of Tanzania to
Burundi, a former general in
the Tanzanian military. A
source close to Mr. Ndagundi
informed the Group that he
works closely with the
Ambassador."
So there
is yet another of Mkapa's team
that is close to the CNDD-FDD.
On
January 16, Inner City Press
asked the UN's deputy
spokesman Farhaq Haq, video
here, UN
Transcript here:
Inner City Press:
these Burundian talks
facilitated by Mr. Mkapa, I'd
asked this in December, I
guess, in writing to you, but
the… one of the… one of his
team members that's being
deported by the UN is a person
that’s listed in the November
2009 DRC sanctions report as
being a supporter of CNDD-FDD,
and there's actually some
allegations that he was
involved in helping to arm
them.
So I'm just wondering, what is
the relationship between the
UN's support of these talks
and what many are calling a
lack of inclusiveness and the
inclusion of people that are…
are, you know, listed in UN
sanctions reports?
Deputy Spokesman: Well,
obviously, the sanctions are,
remain in place, and it's a
matter for the Security
Council and its relevant
sanctions committees to make
sure that those sanctions are
implemented. We at the
UN, of course, respect those
sanctions. That's a
separate issue from the need
for mediation. Of
course, we need to make sure
that all mediation efforts,
including those under former
President Mkapa, are
supported, and we're
continuing to do so with our
officials in the region.
Inner City Press: But
have you seen the response by
large parts of the Burundian
opposition that this… the most
recent round is the least… the
most one-sided yet and it's
virtually… I mean, they're not
really included. What's
the UN's role in these talks?
Deputy Spokesman: We're
certainly aware of the
objections by the various
sides. We're trying to
make sure that, as the process
continues, it can be as
inclusive as possible.
How?
On January
11, long after the UN Security
Council ostensibly mandated
the deployment to Burundi of
228 UN Police, no progress had
been made. Inner City Press
asked UN Spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press:
Has there been any progress in
deploying the 226 police that
the Security Council also
mandated for Burundi to
Burundi? Do you have any
update on that?
Spokesman: No.
None that I can report.
Go ahead. Last one.
While corpses are found in
Burundi and the government
blocks the deployment of both
the UN Police and UN Conflict
Prevention staff ostensibly
called for by the UN
Secretariat and Security
Council, the government's
supporters try to side with
either UN censors like Under
Secretary General Cristina
Gallach, who evicted and
restricts the Press which
reports on Burundi, or more
generally UN staff.
It is more than a
little ironic. UN staff are
being PNG-ed and having visas
denied from Burundi.
A list of some
recent finds:
On 2 January
2017, two( 2) persons namely
Gilbert Bandika aka Juma and
Nestor Nkeshimana were killed
in Nyamaboko in the District
of Kanyosha;
On 4 January
2017, a dead body of a person
identified as Donatien
Ndereyimana was found at the
edge of Lake Tanganyika;
On 5 January
2017, a teenager was shot dead
and another wounded as police
quarreled with farmers in
Mahwa in the District of
Ryansoro;
On 8 January
2017, a dead body of a 50
year-old Habonimana Cyrille
aka Mujos was found in an
abandoned house in Musaga, 1st
street. Testimonies suggest he
was tortured and several parts
of his body amputated before
his remains were dropped in an
abandoned house.
While the UN says little and
does nothing about this, they
made a point of ordering Inner
City Press to stop
broadcasting on Periscope,
with voice-over, a Town Hall
meeting with new Secretary
General Antonio Guterres,
which was on the UN's public
UN Webcast website. And the
government supporters, saying
Inner City Press entered the
meeting (it didn't) and
picking up on the anti-Press
maze Cristina Gallach of Spain
and DPI has created, piled on.
The UN of Gallach has brought
this on; this is how the UN is
perceived and to this has it
sunk.
There is also a strange
announcement of a 500 Euros
loan being arranged from a
shadowy, seemingly dormant
company “Biz Planners.” We'll
have more on this.
Benjamin
Mkapa as Burundi mediator has
kept his mind on his money,
and his money on his mind,
even as amid assissination of
minister, closing down of
NGOs. Well placed sources
exclusively teold Inner City
Press that Mkapa demanded a
raise -- up to $1500 a day --
and was rejected.
Mkapa then took his demand to
the East African Community
heads of state. Will he get
the payday? By declaring
Pierre Nkurunziza legitimate
because Ambassadors still
present their credential to
him, Mkapa is working for the
money. But $1500 a day?
There are other
of his advisers gunning for up
to $500 a day, including one
who is said to have previously
help arm CNDD-FDD related
groups. Yes, we'll have more
on this.
On January 4, Inner City Press
asked about the Security
Council's (lack of) Follow
through on Burundi, to
Ambassador Delattre of France,
the "penholder" on Burundi. Tweeted
video here.
More
here.
***
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