By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, October 13 -- As indicted war criminal Bosco Ntaganda has walked freely around Goma in Eastern Congo, bragging about leading military operations which the UN has supported, the UN has claimed it did not deal with Bosco, that it wanted him arrested.
Inner City Press has published at least four stories on the UN's dalliance with Bosco, indicted for child soldier recruitment, in 2008 and 2009. In May 2009 Inner City Press obtained and published minutes showing Bosco was in the chain of command of UN supported military operations, click here to view.
The UN doggedly ignored the written evidence, claiming it it had obtained a letter to the contrary, even as a former UN peacekeeping official called the UN's double talk "shameful." Click here.
Then on October 11, 2010, days before a human rights report further detailed the UN's duplicity, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky:
Inner City Press: Last week there was an interview with [Jean] Bosco Ntaganda — indicted for recruitment of child soldiers and other war crimes — in which he said openly that he is part of the Congolese Army’s action in Walikale, and that that’s some action that the UN provides logistical support to. So, since the UN has in the past claimed that it does not support any action in which he is a commander, how do they respond to him doing this interview in full view of UN peacekeepers and bragging about UN support to him?
Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: In precisely the same way as we have done before, Matthew.
Inner City Press: Meaning what? Saying it’s not true just by…?
Spokesperson: Correct. That we do not deal with him and we would not participate in operations with him.
Inner City Press: Is the UN providing logistical support to the attacks, to the attempts to rein in the FDLR [Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda] in Walikale, which he claims to be the commander of?
Spokesperson: As I have said, we would not be dealing with him. Okay?
Inner City Press: [inaudible] as I am sure you know, quotes a Western diplomat as saying everyone knows that he commands it. It’s basically that the UN doesn’t want to admit it. So I guess I am just… I am asking you, is it… how is it possible that the UN…?
Spokesperson: You’ve asked me, Matthew, and I have given the answer. So, what’s the next question?
Inner City Press: Okay, the next question is does the UN have any comment on the arrest in Paris of Callixte Mbarushimana?
Spokesperson: I know who you mean, and this is an ICC [International Criminal Court] arrest. We’ve seen the same press release or statement that you have on this person…
Inner City Press: He worked for the UN; I am wondering what the response…
Spokesperson: We of course know where he worked before, and you also know the full history to that. What I can simply say is that we are aware in the same way that you are — from the media and from their press release — that the International Criminal Court has announced that this man was arrested earlier today in Paris by the French authorities following a sealed ICC arrest warrant. That’s what I can tell you.
This last point is not unrelated -- since the UN is willing to mince words about providing logistical support to military operations involving and even led by a war criminal, why be surprised that a war criminal like the FDLR's Callixte Mbarushimana ended up in the employ and pay of the UN?
After Nesirky's dogged insistence that the double talk that began when MONUC was run by Alan Doss, who asked for “leeway” to get his daughter Rebecca Doss a job at UNDP then retired while the UN delayed and buried its investigation of nepotism, should continue unabated now that Roger Meece runs MONUSCO, Inner City Press necessarily turned to another UN official.
On October 12, Inner City Press asked Ban's Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy about MONUSCO working with Bosco, despite Bosco's indictment by the ICC for recruiting child soldiers.
While Ms. Coomaraswamy began by repeating the UN's line, under Nesirky's watchful eye, later to her credit she indirectly acknowledged that despite the UN's stated position, Bosco is still there -- taking photos with UN peacekeepers.
While truncated, the UN's own summary of Ms. Coomaraswamy's press conference states:
“Asked about the case of Bosco Ntaganda, a former rebel commander charged with using child soldiers and war crimes by the International Criminal Court, she said that she had strongly advocated for his arrest and trial. The United Nations as a whole had the same policy, but had not able to arrest anyone anywhere in the world. She would not comment on photographs that allegedly showed him with peacekeepers.”
While in Sudan last week, Inner City Press continued reporting on the UN's next de-evolution: UN Darfur chief Ibrahim Gambari being on the verge of turning over five rebel supporters to the Sudan regime of indicted war criminal and genocidaire Omar al Bashir, relying on Bashir's promise he won't execute them.
It was been said, without any direct response from the UN spokesman when asked, that this would make the UN complicit in genocide. Bosco and MONUSCO are part of this picture. Now what will the UN do? Watch this site.
