UN Beyonce Fest Has CNN Tying M23 & Kabila, Acapella Offerings

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 10 -- Before Beyonce finally arrived to sing an embargoed preview of her song "I Was Here" in the UN General Assembly Friday night, Anderson Cooper held his own little talk show in which he said that Congo's M23 rebels are "an offshoot of Laurent Kabila."

  Laurent Kabila is dead; his son Joseph Kabila is the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo who seeks to wipe out the M23 mutineers. Later Anderson Cooper tried to correct himself and said "Laurent Nkunda."

  But even that is years behind. Nkunda was put under house arrest in Rwanda. The allegation is the Bosco Ntaganda is leading the M23. But neither his name, not that of UN "expert" Steve Hege who has written that the Hutu FDLR armed group is not really a threat to Rwanda, were mentioned.

  Nor for example was the withdrawal of the UN from North Sri Lanka in 2008 and 2009, prior to the killing of 40,000 civilians. It was claimed that the UN doesn't take side. But sometimes leaving is taking sides. Like in Rwanda in 1994. And, one wonders, in Syria in 2012?

  The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, one of Inner City Press' favorite parts of the UN, managed the evening, paying UN Television for time to interview chief Valerie Amos and Ban Ki-moon's new deputy, Jan Eliasson.

  When Eliasson took the stage, he called the event "I Was There," then corrected it. He is a long time Swedish diplomat, just as the UN considered long time Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi to replace UN retiree Kofi Annan as Syria envoy.

Aren't events like this supposed to interest a younger generation in the work of the UN? Where are they?

  This UN event was for a bigger picture crowd: The Dream, and Brooklyn's own Theophilus London. That photo, Inner City Press tweeted, noting that "Journos ask, who's that? Crooklyn."

  Then a general news reporter for a wire service which tried to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN asked, are you a fan? What's your favorite song? Why, "Morning After Pill," of course. Something of an anthem for UNFPA.

  Ultimately, Beyonce's song -- it is not clear if we are allowed to write about it -- and especially the video behind it were amazing. 

  What appeared to be the wooden slats of the GA Hall's wall flew away for a big-screen presentation of camps in Darfur -- like the one the UN didn't protect in Kassam, not mentioned in the show -- and scenes that looked Haiti.

  One wondered: why not at least acknowledge that the UN may have brought cholera to Haiti, inadvertently, and try to have some accountability?

  But, it occurred, those who MIGHT hold the UN accountable only come infrequently and suck up to it, thinking that it makes them look good. But in the case of Anderson Cooper, does it?

  There were two other songs, one with simple guitar thatinspired Inner City Press to tweet a song online, about Sri Lanka, Ban Ki-moon and more. And so it goes at the UN. Watch, or listen, to this site.

As Ocampo Praises DRC on Bosco, Nothing on Kerim, Mai Mai or Duekoue

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 14 -- When outgoing International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo scheduled a press conference on Monday, many at the UN thought it would either be about the high profile issues of Libya or even Syria, or be his swansong. But no.

  Rather, Ocampo described arrest warrants for Bosco Ntaganda, until recently an officer in the Congolese Army, and for the head of the Hutu FDLR rebels. Ocampo said that the DRC government has been helping the ICC to investigate Bosco. But when?

  Inner City Press asked Ocampo about this help, given that Bosco was integrated into the DRC army and was given a free pass, including by UN officials who saw him living the relative high life in Goma.

  Ocampo then acknowledged that this was a problem, but hoped for a new approach now. Inner City Press asked him about another war lord still integrated into the Congolese Army, Peter Kerim, who kidnapped UN peacekeepers and, apparently in exchange for releasing those he did not kill, was made a colonel and put up in a hotel in Kinshasa.

  Yes, Ocampo said, there are other people we should prosecute in the Congo. But he went on to say that the Congolese authorities now have "capacity." But don't they only indict their enemies and opponents?

Inner City Press asked about the lack of accountability for the mass rapes in Walikale -- which have been compounded by a failed MONUSCO "quick impact" project exposed by Inner City Press involving gas-powered Chinese made grain mills never installed, dubbed "Meece's Mills" which so far also escape accountability.

Ocampo did not address Walikale in his response, but argued that the Mai Mai rebels support the FDLR, "there is evidence," he said. Likewise they are viewed as at time supporting the government. They are rebels for hire. Would the DRC prosecute them? Only if convenient.

Inner City Press began to ask about Cote d'Ivoire, with the failure to investigate the massacres in Duekoue in mind, even as Cote d'Ivoire forces allegedly involved may soon be deployed to Mali as part of an ECOWAS force.

But Ocampo said this press conference was only about the Congo. He will do Libya on Wednesday, then agree meet the press. Then, he said, his final appearance on June 5 after briefing the Council about Darfur. One wag said, talk about a long goodbye. But we'll be there. 

Analysis: the problem with the ICC under Ocampo has been its penchant for victor's justice, for example the failure to follow through on Duekoue massacre by the victors in Cote d'Ivoire. Ocampo's Africa focus is a subset of this problem. Watch this site.

As UN Silent on Malawi & Congo, Ban-Lib Syria Statement Laundered by Wires

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 6 -- On a day when the UN in New York was closed and essentially did nothing, including not answering questions about the death of the president of Malawi and a mutiny in Eastern Congo where it has a peacekeeping mission, 7 pm Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky sent an e-mail.

It conveyed a canned quote from Ban Ki-moon, a seeming cut and paste statement that might have been issued yesterday, or last week, or from Washington, or Paris. It seemed perfunctory -- but soon it appeared, in full and with no added analysis or context, on the Reuters newswire.

AFP issued a longer story, but the additional length was only Ban Ki-moon's quotes from the day before, combined with more quotes from Nesirky. This is what these professional journalists call having two source -- i.e., "confirmation."

The problem with this is that it gives the impression that something is being done when it is not. Even the most passionately anti-Assad activist is ill-served by this type of cut and paste stenography, or quote laundering. But this is what happened on Good Friday, as on so many other days.

And here are two questions which Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Nesirky has neither answered nor even confirmed receipt of, on actual new topics on which the UN is supposed to have something to say, not least because it spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year in the Congo with a peacekeeping mission more robust than it wants to send to Syria:

What is the UN / MONUSCO doing about the reported fighting in the Eastern DRC involving fighters aligned with Bosco Ntaganda? What is the UN doing about Ntaganda?

Can the UN confirm, and does the S-G have any comment on, the reported death of the president of Malawi?

After 15 hours, no answer. As the fairytale says, the Emperor has no clothes. Watch this site.

After Lubanga, Questions at UN on Ntaganda and Peter Kerim Go Unanswered

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 16 -- The conviction of Thomas Lubanga this week triggered a UN Security Council press statement, read out before two journalists on Friday afternoon by this month's Council's President, UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant.

Inner City Press asked him about the narrow scope of the indictment, about the failure to arrest Bosco Ntaganda and the failure to even indict fellow warlord Peter Kerim, who not only recruited child soldiers but also kidnapped and killed UN Peacekeepers, before being made a Colonel in the Congolese Army, the FARDC.

UNICEF had previously acknowledged to Inner City Press having counted up child soldiers recruited by Kerim, but has still not provided any information about where they now believe that Kerim is or what follow up they did.

The spokesman for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he would look into it, and returned with a statement about how concerned the UN in the Congo is: but no more information.

Peter Karim's impunity for killing UN peacekeepers was arranged under then Congo envoy Alan Doss and UN Peacekeeping chief Jean-Marie Guehenno, both now "back in the game" as part of Kofi Annan's Syria team. Ah, accountability.

So Inner City Press asked Council president Lyall Grant:

Inner City Press: There’s been some criticism to only indict Mr Lubanga on child soldier recruitment when he was actually thought to be responsible for the death of UN Peacekeepers in 2005. There’s also the issue of Bosco Ntaganda who was indicted at the same time, who is now in the Congolese army and who another ex warlord Peter Karim, who killed UN Peacekeepers also in the army. I understand you have to take victories where you can get them. What do you make of this idea that they should have gone further on Lunbanga and that it is something of an outrage that Bosco Ntaganda continues to be in an army that the UN works with in the DRC?”

Amb. Lyall Grant: Let me answer first as president of the security Council. I think that as this is the first verdict of the International Criminal Court is important. I think that the fact that the Security Council, although in fact only six members of the current Security Council are state parties to the Rome Statute, the fact that they have unanimously welcomed this verdict, I think is also important. So, let’s look at it as a sign that the International Criminal Court is coming of age, that international justice is seen as important, that it is making progress and that it is fully supported by the Security Council even by those members that themselves have not become state parties to the Rome Statute. I think it sends an important signal of the absence of impunity, the fact that the Security Council does not accept impunity for some of these most serious crimes.

On your other point about other, I’m now speaking in my national capacity, obviously the British government would like to see all those who are responsible for these most heinous crimes brought to justice. Obviously the decisions on who is brought, how long the cases take, which crimes they are indicted for, and are convicted of, is a matter for the court, not the matter for the British government. We would like to see more cases come to trial. We would like to see more cases come to conclusion with appropriate verdicts, so we’re not saying that the fact that Mr Lubanga has now been convicted, means that others have not been, or others should have been. We would like to see this as the first step in what I hope will be a number of convictions of people who are responsible for these crimes.

While the statement is appreciated, sometimes naming names is a required element in accountability. Earlier in the week Lyall Grant commented on accountability in Sri Lanka, but declined to comment on General Shavendra Silva, whose 58th Division is depicted in Ban Ki-moon's own Panel of Experts report as engaged in war crimes, being a Senior Advisor on Peacekeeping Operations to Ban and the UN.

Bosco Ntaganda is a known quantity, whose presence in Goma "at the finest restaurants and playing tennis" has been commented on even in the UN, by Patrick Cammaert and more recently. Ntaganda should be named, as should Peter Kerim. Watch this site.

Congo's Bosco Exposes UN War Crimes Double Talk, Gambari's Planned Darfur Turn Over Confirms It

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.

In Congo, MONUSCO Could Not Protect Civilians from Army, Doss Quits Before Nepotism Ruling, Ripert to Replace?

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/drc1monusco051910.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 19 -- The UN Mission in the Congo MONUC, whose embattled chief Alan Doss is resigning with a mere 12 days notice, faced a significant scaling back by the government, Security Council sources tell Inner City Press.

A member returning from the Council's trip to Kinshasa said the move is toward limiting the UN's protection of civilians mandate to only where its peacekeepers are stationed, and to symbolically renaming the mission from MONUC to MONUSCO. (Inner City Press suggests going one step further to MINISCULO.)

This same Council member said the fix is in for former French Ambassador to the UN Jean Maurice Ripert to replace Doss. Ripert is currently the New York based UN humanitarian coordinator for Pakistan. While there are fewer car bombs in the Kivus than in Pakistan, for civilians the Eastern Congo may be more dangerous. But not for high UN officials.

Inner City Press asked Ripert's replacement Gerard Araud, who led the Council's Congo trip, about each of the above. Araud said that the "name and format are on the table," but said that the UN would be able to intervene elsewhere in the Congo "if requested by the DRC authorities." Video here, from Minute 3:24.

NGOs indicate that "the level of brutality against women and girls is increasing with survivors describing being subjected to mutilation and torture, gang rape and abduction by armed groups" -- including the FARDC, and not limited to the Kivus. Since the government's own FARDC army is often accused of killing and raping civilians, it is difficult to minimize such a scaling back of mandate.

And the UN system has few other mechanisms in place. While US Ambassador Susan Rice, while speaking about Libya's election to the Human Rights Council, names as an accomplishing at the HRC since the US joined the saving of the special rapporteurs on the DR Congo, in fact that rapporteur was eliminated.

Minutes after questioning Araud, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky if MONUC had at least investigated charges that the government's FARDC killed more than dozen civilians after it retook the airport at Mbandaka last month. "I know MONUC has been looking into the assault on the airport," Nesirky said. Video here, from Minute 9:20.

But what about the DRC government's assault on civilians?

And if MONUSCO -- or MINISCULO -- has a protection of civilians mandate that is scaled back, even as Ambassador Araud described it, it could not protect civilians from army units, even rogue army units of the former CNDP of Bosco Ntaganda. Perhaps it should be called MON-BOSCO.

Inner City Press asked also Nesirky about Doss' presumptive misconduct, which it first reported, in telling the UN Development Program to show him "leeway" and give his daughter a job.

The UN Office of Internal Oversight Services has already preliminarily found wrongdoing. But, Inner City Press asked, if Ban Ki-moon does not rule before May 31, would the UN still have jurisdiction over Alan Doss, and would be the UN's recourse? Nesirky said the OIOS report and Doss' non public response are before the Secretary General and that "we have no further comment at this time." Video here, from Minute 10:12.

Ah, UN accountability...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/drc1monusco051910.html