By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, September 8 -- Elements of the Congolese Army, and the UN which supports them, are accused of links with the FDLR militia. Ostensibly, the UN's new Intervention Brigade in Eastern Congo was to target not only the M23 but also the FDLR: all armed groups.
But when the UN put out a statement on September 6 about the trip of its envoy Mary Robinson and others to the region, the UN mentioned only M23, and not the FDLR. Click here to view.
In fact, the UN purported to speak for more than itself, staying "A joint mission of United Nations, African Union, European Union and United States envoys for the Great Lakes Region of Africa visited... The delegation expressed a unified front on the challenges facing the DRC and emphasized the importance of tackling the issues of armed groups in the region including the immediate threat as a result of the presence of M23."
But this UN summary on behalf of the five parties did not mention the FDLR.
Now there is a joint five-person declaration that does not have this imbalance: it mentions neither the M23 nor the FDLR. (Click here; one nit-pick: the five-person statement misspells Russ Feingold's name as "Russel" not "Russell.")
Was was the UN really or correctly speaking for all five? And so, what will be accomplished by MONUSCO's involvement in the Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism, when MONUSCO so much faster judged who fired into Rwanda than it is moving with its investigation into chemical weapons in Syria?
We've reported this in connection with the biases on Syria of the Gulf and Western media, including Reuters and AFP, which dominate the UN Correspondents Association, but it has a Great Lakes and Ladsous roots as well. (AFP's UN bureau chief filed a complaint with UN Security leading with how Inner City Press asked a question to Herve Ladsous, now of the UN but who during the Rwanda genocide argued for France for the escape of genocidaires, the FDLR, into Eastern Congo.)
In the past three days, UNCA and its Executive Committee which is dominated by Reuters, AFP and headed by CBS' Pamela Falk have started two new trolling social media accounts which now counterfeit @InnerCityPress. These same Western media trolls have used one of their other anonymous accounts to baselessly allege Rwanda government links to Inner City Press. Sound familiar? Watch this site.
