By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/drc1view100809.html
UNITED NATIONS, October 8 -- The UN's Mission in the Congo, MONUC, is nearly its tenth anniversary, with civilians still being killed, raped and displaced in the Kivus and in the northern Lord's Resistance Army zones. The Mission's claim to fame of late, if it has one, is that the Congolese government of Joseph Kabila is collaborating in anti-rebel offensives with Rwanda and Uganda.
Not only are these offensives causing widespread civilian suffering -- it is also not clear if the UN can claim any credit for these deals between Great Lakes member states. With that subtracted, one is left with a mostly negative assessment of MONUC and its chief, Alan Doss, under fire for other reasons as well.
While MONUC's mandate does not expire until December, the non-governmental organization Oxfam is on a "world tour," the U.S. leg of which involved meetings in Washington including with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Holt, and in New York including with UN Peacekeeping deputy Edmond Mulet. In between, Oxfam made its Congo country director Marcel Stoessel available to the Press, in the half light of the Ambassador Grill across First Avenue from the UN.
Stoessel's main point was that Operation Kimia II against the Hutu rebels of the FDLR is not working. At an earlier stage, he said, one could debate whether the humanitarian cost was worth it. But now the cost, in death and displacement, has become too great. Inner City Press asked, who can make the decision for the UN to stop assisting a military campaign with a net negative impact? The Security Council, said Oxfam's New York director Nicole Widdersheim.
But what about Alan Doss, the head of the Mission? He has come to the Council repeatedly with rosy assessments of Kimia II. He has denied that indicted war criminal Bosco Ntaganda is involved in Kimia II, when Stoessel on Wednesday said that Bosco is easily seen lounging around Goma, reported to be the de facto Number Two in the operation and army. He said that DPKO's reputation is on the line.
Even Doss' supporters concede that his forte, or what he is known for, is "closing down" UN missions, as in Liberia. When he was sent to the Congo, the UN thought the mission was winding down. But now things have gotten worse. He is not the right man for the job, a Doss supporter said. And that is without even referring to the mounting nepotism and abuse of UN resources and hiring procedures scandals.
Inner City Press asked what Oxfam knows about operations against the Lord's Resistance Army. Stoessel answered that Oxfam has just established its first presence in Dungu; the sending of special forces from Egypt and Jordan was mentioned but not confirmed. MONUC assisted the ill-fated December 2008 offensive in the area, that resulted in scattering the LRA into rampages against civilians who had no protection.
On this high-sounding topic, the Protection of Civilians, the Austrian mission has confirmed it will hold a meeting next month, when it hold the Council's presidency. There is talk of a more informal meeting, probably in the UN's basement, including the participation of NGOs like Oxfam and topics like the Congo, perhaps also Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
At press time, the Council's resolution on the ISAF force in Afghanistan was delayed, as Costa Rica held out for protection of civilians language in the pre-ambular paragraphs. And so it goes at the UN.
