Exclusive: Rwanda PR Tells Inner City Press "We Don't Need Tough Talk," Has Means to Know Who Bombed from DRC, Syria Echoes

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, September 4 -- UN envoy Mary Robinson, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said "“I do not say one thing in Goma and another thing in Rwanda. I say tough things, especially to people who need to hear those tough things directly."

  Inner City Press asked Rwanda's Permanent Representative to the UN Eugene-Richard Gasana about the comments. We don't need tough talk, he told Inner City Press exclusively. We have nothing to learn from those who come with tough talk.

  When bombs from the DRC fell in Rwanda, the UN quickly put the blame on the M23 rebels. Rwanda disagrees, and the UN has not come forward with proof. Gasana told Inner City Press on Wednesday, we have the means to know who did it.

There is an analogy, of course, to what the US is saying about the use of chemical weapons in Syria. They say they know who did it, they will not wait for the UN report.

  Meanwhile some close UN watcher say that the lack of credibility of the UN's reports on the Great Lakes, from the Group of Experts' reports under Steve Hege to UN Peacekeeping's Herve Ladsous' and Edmond Mulet's more recent charges undermine the argument that anyone should wait for the UN report on Syria. 

 (The UN's self-exoneration of bringing Haiti to cholerafurther calls the UN's reporting veracity into question.)

So if the US says don't wait for any UN report before acting on Syria, is that logic only for them, the ultimate American exceptionalism?

It is also strange that Mary Robinson, a member of The Elders like Kofi Annan today deploring armed conflict in Syria, is "talking tough" on government and UN military offensives in Eastern Congo. These double standards are getting Old. Watch this site.

   

At UN, Herve Ladsous' Selex ES Falco Drones for DR Congo Crashed in Pakistan & Wales: Questions on Who Gets Info

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 5 -- The drone that UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous has procured for Eastern Congo, the Selex ES Falco, has a history of crashes, from Pakistan to Wales. How then was it selected? And who would run it? These are questions that the UN must answer.

  In Pakistan last year: "an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) crashed near PAF Mureed base during a test-flight mission due to a reported technical fault, some kilometres away from the district Mianwali in Punjab... The crashed UAV was identified as SG Falco-I (Selex), a sophisticated PAF surveillance drone equipped with the latest stealth and surveillance features."

  Before that in Wales: "a drone spy plane has crashed just weeks after an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle test centre was launched in West Wales. The crash, involving a Selex Falco unmanned plane, has raised fears about the safety of testing unmanned aircraft in the skies over Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire.The crash happened at the Parc Aberporth UAV centre near West Wales Airport in Ceredigion, where new craft being tested include drone planes capable of delivering missiles."

  So how was the Selex ES Falco chosen? On July 31, with the UN then as now allowing its Herve Ladsous to conceal which units of the Congolese Army he is aiding, on July 31, Inner City Press asked the UN who won its contract for drones:

Inner City Press: Ladsous announced during the Bastille Day in France that the drone contract had been signed. I’ve checked various databases that are publicly available. What’s the company that won? And if it’s not yet public, how could the UN be signing a contract declaring a winner and not have it be public? Is it public and what is the name of the company?

Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: I will check. I don’t believe it is public...Yes, Evelyn?

Question: Just to be certain the drones that are being used are for observation

  This last is a point Ladsous drone-like makes: he, his mission and the drones are not offensive. To not parrot that, according to Ladsous, is "innuendo," a basis to explicitly refuse to answer Inner City Press' questions. Video compilation here.

  The Office of the Spokesperson for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon provides answers between noon briefing to some media, notably Reuters as well as Ladsous' favorite, Agence France Presse (Ladsous served on one of AFP's management boards.)

But on this who won the drone contract question, neither Nesirky nor his office got back to Inner City Press. Twenty four hours later at the August 1 noon briefing, Nesirky read out this answer:

I was asked [and] the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations can confirm that it has reached the final stage of the procurement process in relation to the trial use of unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs, by its Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). The selected vendor is the Italian company SELEX ES. The UAV is known as the “FALCO” and is designed to be a medium-altitude, medium-endurance surveillance platform capable of carrying a range of payloads, including several types of high-resolution sensors. Of course, its payload does not include weapons.

  When Spokesperson Nesirky was further elaborating that final point of Ladsous', and Inner City Press asked to follow up, Nesirky refused. He had given others two rounds of questions, but refused to Inner City Press.

  Now these question must be answered, particularly given the history of crashes by the Selex Falco documented and raised (including h/t by a source the UN's former Group of Experts chief Steve Hege tried to intimidate by listing in his last report): how was the Selex Falco selected? How many other companies bid? 

  How much is the UN spending? Who would run the drones? Who would get the information? Watch this site.

   

As UN Plays Musical Chairs in the Congo, Anti-Rwanda Experts, Mis-Use of Reports at Human Rights Council, Hege

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 10 -- Sometimes the UN plays musical chairs; sometimes it allows post-holders to abuse the system to try to keep their positions and discredit their critics. 

  Sometimes, as in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN is engaged at cross-purposes in both at the same time.

  Today Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky announced that Martin Kobler, Ban's envoy in Iraq, will be moving to Kinshasa to replace Roger Meece as head of the MONUSCO mission there.

  By any objective measure, Meece has been a failure. The DRC slid back into conflict under his tenure; the UN partners with Congolese army units which then engaged in mass rape in Minova.

  Despite a stated zero tolerance and human rights due diligence policy, the UN has not suspended support to these units, the 391st and 41st Battalions. Nor has the UN provided the Minova rape accountability update Inner City Press asked for on May 29 (video here) and May 30.

  Can Kobler do better? Could he do worse? 

  Meanwhile on June 10 at the UN, Inner City Press asked Nesirky to confirm that Ban's Dublin-based Great Lakes envoy Mary Robinson has taken on as an adviser on Frederico Borello, author of several anti-Rwanda articles similar to those of former sanctions Group of Experts coordinator Steve Hege. 

  Nesirky said he would check with the Department of Political Affairs.

  Hege used his final report to take shots at some of those who criticized his objectivity, even naming them in his report. To many that seemed like an abuse.

Footnote: now Hege's pot-shots have been echoed in Geneva, where the Special Rapporteur on Palestine has in his report, debated today in the Human Rights Council, denounced a

"series of defamatory attacks demeaning his character, repeatedly distorting his views on potentially inflammatory issues. This smear campaign has been carried out in numerous settings, including at the Human Rights Council, as well as university venues where the Special Rapporteur gives lectures in his personal capacity on subjects unrelated to the mandate. The lobby groups’ smears have been sent to diplomats and United Nations officials, including the Secretary-General, who has apparently accepted the allegations at face value, issuing public criticism of the Special Rapporteur."

  Should a UN Special Rapporteur, even if (mis) described as "honorary," or the coordinator of a sanctions Group of Experts, use a UN report to denounce his or her critics, and as here try to get them dis-accredited? The closed-in world of the UN need more, not fewer, voices. Watch this site.

On DRC, Rwanda Tells UNSC Leloup & Plamadiala Are Not Welcome

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, February 1 -- One month after Rwanda joined the UN Security Council, on Friday afternoon it attended a meeting of the Council's Sanctions Committee on the Democratic Republic of Congo.

   This Committee had adopted some new sanctions on New Years Eve, just before Rwanda joined on January 1.

  On Friday, February 1, things were different, Inner City Press is exclusively informed. The other 14 members were told by Rwanda that while it is keen to collaborate with the new Group of Experts, it doubts their will to change mindsets, given past experience.

 The reference was for example to Steve Hege, the expert who took off the Internet his writings about the FDLR militia once they were identified and linked to by Inner City Press.

   The news of February 1 is that Rwanda told the Committee that neither Bernard Leloup nor Marie Plamadiala, as members of the Group of Experts charged with visiting not only DRC about also its neighbors, will be welcomed in Rwanda, whatever the consequences. Rwanda had informed the UN Secretariat before their appointment and now feels it needs to be respected.

   Inner City Press has inquired into Rwanda's objection to Leloup. For a random search, click here.

As one example: http://rwanda-rugari.tripod.com/rwandarugari/id83.html

   As with Hege, it would seem that in the wide world of academic experts, one could be found without a paper trail of such strong opinions, which undermine at least the perception of objectivity. 

 Why does the UN keep doing this? Watch this site.

HRW Paid for Anti M23 Testimony in Goma, UN Topics Secret, CAR Ignored?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 28 -- The disparity in focus on rebels in the Eastern Congo and now in Central African Republic is striking. 

   The M23 mutineers have been the subject of numerous UN Group of Experts leaked reports by Steve Hege, of UN Security Council meetings, open and closed, and a resolution, and compensated testimony gathering by, along others, Human Rights Watch.

   The taking of ten towns in CAR garnered nowhere near this focus: two press statements and a single closed door meeting of the UNSC, none since embassies including of the USA in Bangui have closed. Some have asked, where is Human Rights Watch on the Central African Republic?

   For now, we return to a topic we reported on back on December 16: HRW admitting paying for travel for those who would testify to it.

Inner City Press asked HRW a number of questions, and received a canned statement from HRW's UN representative Philippe Bolopion: 

"Human Rights Watch does not pay witnesses in exchange for information, in order to preserve the integrity of the interviews we conduct. Human Rights Watch occasionally compensates victims or witnesses for incidental costs they may incur when traveling specifically in order to meet with our researchers. As in any other conflict, Human Rights Watch documents abuses committed by all sides in the DRC and therefore seeks information from anyone with first-hand information to give."

   We ran the HRW statement on December 16; Liberationran it as a "right of reply" on December 23, along with their reporter's damning sur-reply, that HRW's investigator began with the position that M23 was the primary perpetrator, and quoting a witness at Heal Africa that HRW was "looking for testimonies against M23."

  Frankly, while having an opinion is a good thing, it would not be surprising that an employee of HRW, seeing the Tweets of boss Ken Roth, would view his or her role in Goma as finding testimonies to prove the boss' already expressed opinion.

  But we remain interested in the questions twice posed to Human Rights Watch on December 16 and still not answered: what testimony was collected? What has been done with it? 

   And since May 2011 have senior HRW staff met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon; if so, what dates, and this is a request again to know the topics.

   Previously, Bolopion for HRW told Inner City Press, "To preserve our ability to have frank discussions with UN officials and advance our advocacy goals, we don't typically communicate on the content of discussions we have with them."

   But doesn't HRW disclose at least the topics raised with the UN to their donors? Is that what one has to do to be informed? Watch this site.

As Congress Lists Hege as Former DRC Expert, UN Confirms to ICP He's Gone

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 10 -- Given the importance given to the quickly leaked reports of Steve Hege-led Group of Experts on sanctions on the Democratic Republic of Congo, it surprised many to suddenly see, on the witness list for tomorrow's House of Representatives hearing on Eastern Congo

"Mr. Steve Hege (Former Member United Nations Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo)"

And so Inner City Press asked the UN spokesperson's office, "given the previous Q&A at noon briefings about Mr. Hege, his writings about the FDLR and Rwanda's complaints, can you please state whether Mr. Hege is stil on the Group of Experts, if so when his term expires, and if this listing as 'former' member is accurate."

The UN Spokesperson's Office answer very quickly:

Subject: Your question on Steve Hege
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Mon, Dec 10, 2012 at 3:24 PM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

Mr. Hege served as the Coordinator of the Group of Experts on the DRC, extended pursuant to SC resolution 2021 (2011). This Group's mandate expired on 30 November 2012.

  Some now surmise this explains the nearly real-time leaking of Hege's last reports: why not? The controversial coordinator of the Somalia - Eritrea sanctions group, Matt Bryden, did the same at the end. 

  Skeptics in the UN say they do this as a form of try-out for a job in the human rights field or academia.

  And that may be where Hege is better suited. As a fan of academic freedom, Inner City Press supports the right of a professor or pundit to write an article dismissive of the threat posed by the FDLR militia.

   (This article, with Hege as only "contact," was removed from the Internet as soon as Inner City Press linked to it, which has yet to be explained. Maybe now?)

But once you do that, you should not expect to be or remain on a UN Group of Experts on sanctions, just as a judge who wrote an op-ed criticizing corporation impunity would be recused from many cases. In any case, Hege is now "former."

So who will write up, and explain, the UN official telling the Guardian M23 was looting the Central Bank in Goma when the UN itself now tells Inner City Press it never happened? Click here for that, and watch this site.

After Rwanda's UNSC Win, FM Mushikiwabo Tells ICP Hege is "Problematic," Leak "Predictable"

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 18 -- After Rwanda won 148 votes and a two-year UN Security Council seat, Inner City Press asked Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo about the leaking, two days before the election, of the report of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Group of Experts headed by Steve Hege.

  Minister Mushikiwabo said that the leak before the election was "predictable" and called Hege "problematic" and suffering from an "ideological hangover."

  Inner City Press previously identified and linked to Hege's writings from 2009 downplaying the danger posed by the FDLR militia -- once linked to, the article was taken off the Internet.

  Mushikiwabo said the DRC's attempt, by charge d'affaires Charlotte Omoy Malenga, to interrupt the voting by saying Rwanda was not qualified was a product of "frustration." She said that DRC should see Rwanda being on the Security Council as value added.

  Inner City Press asked Mushikiwabo about her previously criticism of the MONUSCO peacekeeping mission: how should it be changed? She said Rwanda is not entering as a revolutionary. But on some issues, the Security Council and wider UN need to be shaken up. Watch this site.

On Eve of UNSC Vote, Australia's Carr Skips SC Debate, Cambodia Fires at NYT, Rwanda and Hege

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 17 -- On the eve of UN Security Council elections, several last minute pitches were made, documents leaked, responses made or ignored.

  In the Western European and Other states Group, in which Finland, Australia and Luxembourg vie for two seats, Finland's foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja met at 4:30 pm with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, his chief of staff Susana Malcorra and chief political adviser Jeffrey Feltman.

  Finnish Permanent Representative Jarmo Viinanen on October 16 told Inner City Press his country has 165 commitments. They are also preparing bags of dried blueberries for distribution.

   Inner City Press covered the Finnish photo op and while waiting to go up to the North Lawn's third story spotted Australia's foreign minister Bob Carr cutting through the lobby. 

  Unlike his counterparts from Luxembourg and Finland, he did not speak at the day's Rule of Law debate in the Security Council. Nor was he listed on Ban Ki-moon's schedule. But he was working it.

  Australian Permanent Representative Gary Quinlan told Inner City Press he has 162 commitments.

   A well placed diplomat, speaking exclusively to Inner City Press on October 17, mused that Australia is "far from Africa," but is high profile in disarmament, important to the Continent. 

  "There's little exchange of support with Africa," he said, "they always have clean slates. So it's about putting in a factory, or even just a football pitch."

   He went on to the next WEOG election, in which New Zealand is slated to face off with Spain and Turkey. "This is bad for New Zealand," he said, "if Australia gets on, there's no way New Zealand will. And if Australia loses, how could New Zealand win?"

  New Zealand's Permanent Representative, in the Security Council on Wednesday, joined Brazil in question the "carve-outs" from referrals to the International Criminal Court, used by the United States in the Libya referral.

   What Ban's spokesman called the leaking of the report of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Group of Expertsled by Steve Hege was widely seen as a "dirty trick," as two diplomats from different continents put it. But still no alternative candidate stepped forward in the African Group. Likewise Argentina is unopposed in GRULAC.

  The New York Times ran an op-ed against Cambodia, running against South Korea and Bhutan for a single seat;Cambodia responded with a letter to the editor which we will put online here.

  It seems an opportune time to also highlight and link to a recent study of how various Security Council reform proposals would impact the chances of particularly countries to serve on the Council -- click here for that, "Platform for Change." Watch this site.

DR Congo and Rwanda "On Hold," UNSC President Tells ICP, Belgium's Push

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 2 -- There was a flurry of activity on the Democratic Republic of Congo and its neighbor, Rwanda, at the UN in September but the topic is not even listed on the agenda of the Security Council for October.

  After last week's closed-door mini summit on the topic at the UN, Inner City Press was told that the most vocal in pushing sanctions against Rwanda was Belgium, for the allegations of support to the M23 mutineers made in the UN report coordinated by Steve Hege, whose 2009 writings about the FDLR and Rwanda have yet to be explained (they were taken off the Internet after Inner City Press linked to them).

  On Tuesday Inner City Press asked income Security Council president Gert Rosenthal of Guatemala why DRC is not on the agenda, is it just on hold? Video here, from Minute 22:48.

  Rosenthal told Inner City Press that on "Eastern DRC, the Security Council has been waiting for some type of agreement among the Great Lake governments, so far it has not come forth."

  Referring to Inner City Press' question he said, "the way you put it, the topic being on hold, is an accurate reflection of where we are right now. The situation is not good, and that is the reason we are reminding ourselves in the footnote that the topic may come to us this month, though not specifically scheduled."

Nor is there on the schedule any Department of Political Affairs or "horizon scanning" briefing. Watch this site.

At UN's Mis-Run MDGs Q&A, Key Rwanda Question Cannot Be Asked

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 26 -- The topic was the Millennium Development Goals Advocacy group, and the three stakeout speakers on Wednesday at 5 pm were to be Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Julia Gillard of Australia and Rwanda's Paul Kagame, the chairman.

But when it began, late, Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson stood in the middle between the two heads of state and apologize. Moments later, Jeffrey Sachs joined the three, and also gave an opening statement.

There should have been time for questions -- Inner City Press wanted to ask not only about the impact of the global financial downturn on the non-attainment of many MDGs, but also what President Kagame thought of countries cutting their aid to Rwanda after report of the UN Group of Experts coordinated by Steve Hege.

But none of these questions could be asked. Only two questions were taken before it ended, one from the Australian business press, as Gillard is lobbying to win a three way race for two Security Council seats with Luxembourg and Finland, and the first about "one cow per family." Basic homework could have improved this and the following stakeout.

On his way out Eliasson apologized to the Press, saying he hadn't been the one selecting or limiting the questions. President Kagame was in a rush, and it is not clear if there will be any press availability to ask about aid and M23 and Hege. So it goes at this UN.

Congo's Tshibanda Says Doesn't Know Hege, Denies Mai Mai, Likes Dodd Frank

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 31 -- The M23 mutineers in Eastern Congo were the topic of a press conference Friday afternoon from 4 pm past 5 by Congolese minister Raymond Tshibanda. 

  Despite the length of the session it was difficult to get Tshibanda to engage with the specific criticisms against the Group of Experts report on which he relied.

   As the first questions after a 45 minute opening statement by Tshibanda, Inner City Press asked him of Rwanda's critique of the Group of Experts report and its the Group's coordinator Steve Hege, who has written that the FDLR militia is not really a threat to Rwanda. Click here for Inner City Press story.

Despite relying on Hege's report, Tshibanda deferred on this question, saying that he does not know Hege personally but the Security Council surely "before recruiting him, did the necessary inquiries and was convinced."

This has been questioned by Rwanda's foreign minister Louise Mushikiwabo, on August 29 at the UN: YouTube here, Facebook click here.

Then Tshibanda said that the contents of the report are not questioned. But they are. 

For example, Janvier Saddat or Saddam is presented as from Rwanda, when in fact he was integrated into the Congolese army FARDC in 2009. Jack Nziza has alibi witnesses. But Tshibanda's presentation listed Nziza, as Jacques, and asks for sanctions on him.

There were other factual problems. Inner City Press has asked the UN about its use of MONUSCO mission aircraft to flying FARDC officials to meet with the Mai Mai militia, to recruit them to fight the M23. The UN had admitted to flying, but says it was not involved in the meeting.

But Tshibanda simply denied that FARDC works with the Mai Mai. What was the purpose of the meeting the UN flew them to? Tshibanda said he wouldn't respond to something he didn't hear. But his answer, and what the UN has admitted, do not seem consistent.

In non-M23 news, Inner City Press asked Tshibanda for the DRC position on the conflict mineral provisions of the Dodd Frank law and the SEC's new rules. He said the DRC likes them. But they only apply to companies under SEC jurisdiction. We'll have more on this.