After Only 2 Convictions for 130 Minova Rapes by DR Congo Army, UN Associate Spokesperson Stonewalls on Due Diligence

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 6, 2014 -- For months, UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous dodged and refused questions about rapes by the Congolese Army FARDC in Minova. Video compilation here.

   Then on May 5 after other UN officials emphasized that some Congolese soldiers were belatedly being prosecuted, today the verdicts declared not guilty three dozen of the 39 charged, convicting of rape only two of the soldiers, for more than 130 rapes.

  On May 6 at the UN Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's associate spokesperson Vannina Maestracci would would now happen, under the UN's and Ladsous' claimed "Human Rights Due Diligence" Policy. Video here.

    Maestracci insisted, "We said we were disappointed." But is that enough? Is that the due diligence policy? Maestracci said others will be "analyzing" the two convictions.  Inner City Press asked, who will be analyzing, and who would decide on suspending support to the 41st and 391st Battalions?

    "You got my answer," Maestracci said. 

   On May 5 Inner City Press asked deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq if the UN views this low level of conviction "accountability" for the rapes for purposes of continuing Ladsous' support of the 41st and 391st Battalions of the Congolese Army, or views the verdict as an outrage. Video on Inner City Press YouTube channel here and embedded below, followed by weakMONUSCO statement.

  Haq at noon on May 5 had no comment on the verdict, saying that "the mission," MONUSCO under Martin Kobler, will "prepare our response."  But Ban and Ladsous have made much of their supposed Human Rights Due Diligence Policy, under which they said UN support would be suspended for abuses, or for a lack of accountability for abuses.  This, is an abuse. 

    And this may be worse: MONUSCO's weak statement taking note of two convictions for rape after 130 rapes. Human rights due diligence? Hardly.

   Back on April 9, Ladsous appeared for a press conference with High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay. Ladsous presented the Minova cases -- no convictions -- as a success for the UN's Human Rights Due Diligence Policy.

  Inner City Press asked Navi Pillay if she thought sixteen months and counting was too long, given that Ladsous' MONUSCO is still working with the implicated FARDC units, the 41st and 391st Battalion.

  Then Inner City Press specifically asked Ladsous about charges of gang rape against peacekeepers in his Mali mission MINUSMA. Have those charged been cleared?

   Pillay said she hadn't presented Minova as a success, and that she is concerned about the delay. Then Ladsous sat silent. The Department of Public Information moderator said, "Mr. Lee, I said this was about the DRC." Video here and embedded below.

  So rapes ascribed to UN Peacekeepers in Mali go UNanswered? There is a pattern:

   On April 7 it was a simple question to Ladsous, which he refused: when will UN Peacekeeping go after or neutralize the Hutu FDLR militia? It was asked by Inner City Press on April 7, the 20th anniversary of the beginning of the genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda in which the FDLR were perpetrators.

But UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous replied, "To you, Mister, you know I never answer your questions, and you know very well why." Video here, and embedded below.

Why, then? Ladsous was France's Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN in 1994 during the Rwanda genocide, and he argued for French policies including the escape of the genocidaires into Eastern Congo. Seesample memo, here.

It is one thing for France to so deny this history that it decided its Justice Minister would not attend the genocide commemoration in Kigali. But for a French UN official to openly refuse to answer a question about his responsibility, to neutralize the Hutu FDLR militia in Eastern Congo?

This happened at the International Peace Institute on First Avenue across from the UN Headquarters. On the panel with Ladsous as he said this were IPI's Francesco Mancini, Italy's Permanent Representative Sebastiano Cardi, Pakistan's Deputy Permanent Representative Khan and Ameerah Haq, Under-Secretary-General for the UN Department of Field Support. The audience, witnesses, were a range of diplomats and UN officials.

  Ladsous, ever since Inner City Press asked him about his history, has resisted questions inside the UN, see video compilation here, UK coverage in the New Statesman here.

But previously Ladsous did answer an Inner City Press question at IPI, and UN officials made much of it to Inner City Press, as if to say, Ladsous is reasonable, he is not engaged in censorship.

But he is. Another example: while UN Peacekeeping spends a lot of money promoting itself on social media, Inner City Press has asked why for example its MINURSO mission in Western Sahara, in which Morocco and France oppose a human rights monitoring mandate, has no social media presence.

The answer given at IPI -- not by Ladsous, who refuses Inner City Press questions -- is that for some missions, countries do no give permission for certain equipment or, apparently, Twitter accounts. But who could it be, banning MINURSO in Western Sahara from social media?

  Ladsous tries to spoonfeed information to friendly scribes; in his favorfirst the UN Correspondents Association (requested by Agence France Presse) then the current spokesperson of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon have made threats to discourage coverage. There's more on this - but this is today's video, here; this is today's UN. Watch this site.

   

On Rapes by DRC Army, Belkacem Said “Time Is Enemy" - A Year Ago. With No Convictions Since, Now What?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 7 -- When French minister on the rights of women Najat Vallaud-Belkacem came to the UN last March for the Commission on the Status of Women, Inner City Press asked her about the 135 rapes in Minova by two battalions of the Congolese Army which UN Peacekeeping under Herve Ladsous supports.

  Then, Vallaud-Belkacem said that "time is the enemy" in rape investigations. In June 2013, when Inner City Pressasked again, she acknowledged that there had not "yet" been enough arrests.

   Now it is March 2014 and there have been no convictions for the Minova rapes but Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row to run UN Peacekeeping, continues to support the 41st and 391st Battalions of the Congolese Army, while refusing to answer Press questions.

  This is what France's domination of UN Peacekeeping and now more at the UN has come to: impunity, lack of accountability, statements like that of Ambassador Gerard Araud last week that "there is no Navi Pillay report" that France's disarming of ex Seleka in Central African Republic put Muslim communities at risk, but click here for that.

  What does Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, a spokesperson for the government of Francois Hollande, now say one year later?

 Fifteen months after two units of the Congolese Army committed over 130 rapes at Minova, "Sexual Violence in Conflict" was the topic of a panel discussion at the UN on March 6.  

   The UN's envoy on the topic, Zainab Bangura, praised Congolese president Joseph Kabila for his new focus on rape. But have there been any convictions at all for the 135 rapes 15 months ago?

  The Enough Project, which ran the event, promised that questions like this one, submitted on paper in the room and on Twitter, will be answered. We'll see.

  The head of UN Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous dodged Press questions about the Minova rapes for months, evendirecting his spokesperson to seize the microphone so the questions couldn't be asked. Click here for that video.

  On March 6 Ladsous was at it again, refusing to answer a Press question about allowing a UN-listed child soldier recruiter into "his" mission on Mali and prospectively in the Central African Republic. At the UN, grandiose speeches are given, but too often there is little follow through and no accountability.

 Here's a place to start: the US-trained 391st Battalion of the Congolese Army FARDC, which took part in the mass rape at Minova.

   That was more than 14 months ago, and yet at a February press conference by the UN Mission in the Congo MONUSCO, it was reported that in the already delayed interview of victims in Minova, interviewers spoke with barely a quarter of the more than 200 listed victims. Still no justice. 

  Again: the 391st Battalion, one of two charged with the Minova rapes, was trained by the United States. (Click here for comment the US Mission to the UN provided to Inner City Press, which also first reported that Ambassador Samantha Power raised Minova to Joseph Kabila in October.) 

  Kobler acknowledged that the most recent hearing in the Minova case had been postponed, that witness statements have still not been taken. Video here, from Minute 6:32. 

  Given that the UN says it has a Human Rights Due Diligence Policy of not supporting army units engaged in abuses, how much longer will the UN accept this? Fifteen months and counting.

   Watch this site.
   

With No Convictions for Minova Rapes, UN Praises DR Congo, US Samantha Power on Bilateral Training, But Minova's 391st Battalion was US Trained

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 7 -- Fifteen months after two units of the Congolese Army committed over 100 rapes at Minova, "Sexual Violence in Conflict" was the topic of a panel discussion at the UN on March 6.  

   The UN's envoy on the topic, Zainab Bangura, praised Congolese president Joseph Kabila for his new focus on rape. But have there been any convictions at all for the 100 rapes 15 months ago?

  US Ambassador Samantha Power spoke movingly, also citing the US' bilateral training. But one of the two units involved in the rapes, the 391st Battalion, was trained by the US. 

  To her credit, and as Inner City Press first reported, Power raised the Minova rapes to Kabila during the Security Council's French-led trip on October. But what progress if any has been made since then?

  The Enough Project, which ran the event, promised that questions like this one, submitted on paper in the room and on Twitter, will be answered. We'll see.

  The head of UN Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous dodged Press questions about the Minova rapes for months, even directing his spokesperson to seize the microphone so the questions couldn't be asked. Click here for that video.

  On March 6 Ladsous was at it again, refusing to answer a Press question about allowing a UN-listed child soldier recruiter into "his" mission on Mali and prospectively in the Central African Republic. At the UN, grandiose speeches are given, but too often there is little follow through and no accountability.

 Here's a place to start: the US-trained 391st Battalion of the Congolese Army FARDC, which took part in the mass rape at Minova.

   That was more than 14 months ago, and yet at a February press conference by the UN Mission in the Congo MONUSCO, it was reported that in the already delayed interview of victims in Minova, interviewers spoke with barely a quarter of the more than 200 listed victims. Still no justice. 

  Again: the 391st Battalion, one of two charged with the Minova rapes, was trained by the United States. (Click here for comment the US Mission to the UN provided to Inner City Press, which also first reported that Ambassador Samantha Power raised Minova to Joseph Kabila in October.) 

  Kobler acknowledged that the most recent hearing in the Minova case had been postponed, that witness statements have still not been taken. Video here, from Minute 6:32. 

  Given that the UN says it has a Human Rights Due Diligence Policy of not supporting army units engaged in abuses, how much longer will the UN accept this? Fifteen months and counting.

   Watch this site.
   

As US John Kerry Cites Congo Rapes & M23, No Update on Minova Rapes by DRC Army's US Trained 391st Battalion

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 25 -- With "Sexual Violence in Conflict" the topic of US Secretary of State John Kerry and his UK counterpart William Hague on February 25, one hoped for an update on or at least mention of the more than 100 rapes by the Congolese Army in Minova in November 2012.

  But while the transcript mentioned "DRC" five times, and "Congo" three, there is nothing on Minova. Instead, the implication is that all the rapes in Eastern Congo are by the M23 -- not the FDLR, much less the Congolese Army, which the US supports.

  In fact the 391st Battalion, one of two charged with the Minova rapes, was trained by the United States. (Click here for comment the US Mission to the UN provided to Inner City Press, which also first reported that Ambassador Samantha Power raised Minova to Joseph Kabila in October.) 

  So maybe a Minova update next time? Or on February 26, when Kerry meets Great Lakes envoy Russ Feingold as well as Ben Affleck? From the February 25 transcript

Secretary of State Kerry: "In the Great Lakes region, we have just – in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where M23 was active, in the Kampala Accord, which Special Envoy Russ Feingold and Mary Robinson from the United Nations and others were engaged in helping to negotiate, we have a section in there that specifically talks about accountability and prevention of rape as a tool of – and holding people accountable in M23 for these acts."

  Back on January 13, after UN envoy Martin Kobler told the Security Council about "the need to address ill-discipline within the [Congolese Army] FARDC and National Police and to pursue all outstanding cases of misconduct," Inner City Press asked him about the FARDC's mass rapes at Minova in November 2012. 

  Kobler acknowledged that the most recent hearing in the Minova case had been postponed, that witness statements have still not been taken. Video here, from Minute 6:32. 

  Given that the UN says it has a Human Rights Due Diligence Policy of not supporting army units engaged in abuses, how much longer will the UN accept this? Thirteen months and counting.

  Perhaps relatedly, after rumors of the death of Rwanda's Paul Kagame were shot down, across the border in the Eastern Congo, a time-stamped photograph was tweeted of a UN truck full of people on the back, captioned "MONUSCO in Goma celebrating the death of Pres Paul Kagame."

  It seemed worth asking the UN mission chief Martin Kobler to comment on or explain the photograph, and Inner City Press sent this, to Kobler and three MONUSCO spokespeople:

"Please comment on / explain this time-stamped photo, which is being described as a UN truck participating in "celebrations" of the rumor of the Rwandan president's death. Do you dispute that the photo was taken on January 10? To whom is the UN giving a ride in this truck / photo? In what context?"

   After a time, UN envoy Kobler replied:

"@innercitypress Ceci apparait de toute évidence comme une utilisation frauduleuse d'un véhicule de la #Monusco. C'est inacceptable"

  Translated: "This appears clearly as a fraudulent use of a vehicle of the #Monusco. This is unacceptable."

(Translation not by Google, not only because of NSA spying issues but also acquiescence in Digital Millennium Copyright Act abuse by Reuters UN bureau, click here for that.)

  The question became, now what does Kobler, or those above him in New York, do?  

  Inner City Press on January 10 went to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's press conference, 11 am in New York, to ask this question: "in the DRC this morning, after false rumors of Paul Kagame being dead, a MONUSCO truck was photographed in what some call celebrations and Martin Kobler told me is "unacceptable." What do you think your UN should do about this, in terms of the perception of impartiality or bias by the UN?"

  But Ban's acting deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq did not call on Inner City Press, instead automatically giving the first question to the United Nations Correspondents Association(a/k/a UN's Censorship Alliance), then mostly questions soft on the UN about Syria.

  Next came spin from MONUSCO, e-mailed to the Press:

Fraudulent use of MONUSCO truck in Goma

Kinshasa, 10 January 2014 - MONUSCO is aware of a photo being circulated on the internet showing a MONUSCO truck in Goma during a demonstration.

In reality, the truck was taken over by demonstrators while on a regular mission. The driver was alone and unarmed when the incident happened. MONUSCO condemns this agressivity against its assets.

MONUSCO has launched a full investigation to ascertain the circumstances and the context surrounding the incident. 

  But how does the UN explain, then, this UN jeep or Four by Four in this longer video of the anti-Kagame protests, from Minute 1:04 to 1:54? http://youtu.be/L9EPcUOpT1M

 On January 13, Inner City Press asked Kobler about the two vehicles. He said that both had been taken over, which now seems to mean that the UN drivers remained in the vehicles, carrying the protesters, on the single road from Sake to Munigi, through Goma.

  Kobler said the drivers were unarmed, but even if armed would not have tried to get the demonstrators off, at least not be using force. He said the protesters got off or disappeared out by the Uruguayan peacekeepers' base by the airport. There is more than a little skepticism. But that is what Kobler said: video here, from Minute 6:32.

   Watch this site.
   

Mali Police UN Works With Killed Protester in Kidal, Ladsous Says in Rare Answer to Inner City Press; Policy Questions

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 13 -- The Malian police in Kidal shot protesters after UN peacekeepers and French Serval forces told the crowd to disperse. Last weekend one of those shot died.

  Inner City Press on Friday asked UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous about the incident, and also how France obtained a non-public Letter of Assist payment from the UN for airfield services in northern Mali, how much it is for and why it is not more transparent.

  Ladsous replied that "I make it a policy not to respond to you, Mister," but then provided something of an answer to the first but not second, financial, question. Video here, from Minute 15:45.

  He said, "I will respond on Kidal, because indeed that was a very unfelicitous occurrence. Our UN Police and Serval, the French troops, ordered the crowd to disperse. It appears Malian police did shoot, and yes, three civilians were injured, one of whom died over the weekend."

  In many countries, if an unarmed civilian is shot and killed by police the officer is suspended and charges are brought or put before a grand jury or other tribunal. What is happening here?

  Ladsous said, "We are looking further into the matter. Of course we have to say if indeed it is established beyond any doubt that the Malian police did shoot, that is not a way to behave, this is absolutely unacceptable."

  But to whom must it be established beyond a doubt? In the case of the 135 rapes in Minova by the 391st and 41st Battalions of the Congolese Army, the UN has continued to provide material support to those two units for the eleventh months before any trial started.

  Ladsous did not say anything in response to Inner City Press' question about how France got the Letter of Assist, how much it is for and why it is not more public. 

 The history of Ladsous and the policy he adopted in May 2012 of not answering any of Inner City Press' questions, including about the Minova rapes except once at the International Peace Institute across First Avenue from the UN, is long; since there was at least this plausible interim answer on the Kidal shootings to report, we leave it here for now.

  But even on this there are questions of policy -- to use Ladsous' word -- which should obviously be answered or responded to. Does Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's stated Human Rights Due Diligence Policy apply to this case of Malian police shooting at unarmed protesters? 

  Is the UN's MINUSMA mission still working with these Malian police? These questions should be answered. Watch this site.

   

On DR Congo, UN Peacekeeping Report on Impunity for Electoral Violence "Did Not Come Up" in UNSC When Briefed by UN Peacekeeping's Ladsous, Minova Case Rape Spin

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 11 -- After the UN itself issued a report calling on the "the international community to urge Congolese authorities to combat impunity and prosecute those suspected of human rights violations committed during the election process," Inner City Press asked French Ambassador Gerard Araud about it, at the conclusion of the UN Security Council's DRC session on Wednesday.

  Araud replied that the issue had not come up during the more than two hour meeting just concluded. One must ask, why not? The report was issued by MONUSCO, the UN Peacekeeping mission. Herve Ladsous, the chief of UN Peacekeeping, was in the meeting (though he did not speak to the press afterward).

  The head of MONUSCO, Martin Kobler, did come and speak to the press. Inner City Press asked him two accountability questions: about the above-quoted report, and also about the Minova rapes by the 391st and 41st Battalions of the Congolese Army, and when the UN's Human Rights Due Diligence Policy might be applied to them.

  Kobler answered about Minova, that a trial has begun but so far only the 40 (or 41) charged soldiers have been interviewed. He said that the HRDDP is implemented, but it is still unclear: why did MONUSCO continue working with the 391st and 41st Battalions after their mass rape, for a full year before any kind of trial began? Are the commanders being held accountable?

Araud also spoke about the Minova rapes, after saying that the MONUSCO report on electoral violence, here, had not come up. He made much of the trials, not mentioning the limitation on interviews that Kobler had mentioned. 

  But Araud is coming to take questions after many sessions this month - it is Ladsous, of the three briefers on Wednesday, who did not come to the stakeout. There are many questions that he should answer his next time. But will he? Watch this site.

   

Near UN, Peacekeeping Deputy Mulet Blames Haiti Underdevelopment for Cholera's Spread, Ladsous Missing in Action

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 19 -- When asked inside the UN about bringing cholera to Haiti, spokespeople for UN Peacekeeper have for months been telling the Press "we have nothing more to say," or more recently, "that is not a yet or no question."

  So on Tuesday Inner City Press went two blocks from the UN to a panel discussion with UN Peacekeeping and the US State Department, to see if there might be a more candid answer.

  The guest was supposed to be UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, who inside the UN refuses to answer Press questions. (Video here, UK coverage here.) But he was replaced, apparently at the last minute, by his deputy Edmond Mulet, once the head of the UN's mission in Haiti, MINUSTAH.

When Mulet and the US State Department's Victoria Holt were asked about cholera in Haiti, only Mulet answered. (Holt answered another question about zero tolerance for sexual abuse, but said nothing about the US-trained 391st Battalion of the Congolese Army being implicated in 135 rapes in Minova.)

Mulet essentially blamed the cholera death on Haiti itself, noting the "same strain" -- that would be, from Nepal, brought along with the peacekeepers from there by the UN -- spread to the Dominican Republic but didn't killed anyone.

Mulet said it spread to Cuba too, but the government there was more organized. But no follow-up was allowed on the main point: it was the UN peacekeepers' negligent santitation practices that put their fecal material in the river and introduced cholera to Haiti. Have any improvements been made since?

The venue was the Museum of Tolerance; the host was UNA-USA. The mood was how to make the UN attractive to Americans, or really, how to best present the UN to Americans. That's why Mulet's blame-the-Haitians line doesn't work: nearly anyone who hears what happens thinks the UN should apologize, and try to help the families of those killed. And that is something that UNA-USA is going to have to deal with. Watch this site.

Footnote: Mulet did tell some interesting stories, about peacekeepers in Western Sahara having to use powder to fend off snakes; he also said that the first of Ladsous' drones-- he called them UUAV, unarmed -- will fly above Eastern Congo in ten days' time. Watch this site.