As UN's Ban Ki-moon Congratulates Joseph Kabila for DR Congo's "Successful Military Operation," Echo of Sri Lanka, Question of Syria

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 6 -- Since when did the UN start congratulating governments for "successful military operations"? Today in Paris the UN summarizes that in his meeting with Joseph Kabila, "the Secretary-General congratulated the DRC for the successful military operation against the M23."

  This harkens back for some to the UN's approach in 2009 to the Sri Lankan government's "successful military operations" against the Tamil Tigers or LTTE. A rebel group was wiped out; in that case tens of thousands of civilians were killed.

  Ban Ki-moon was hardly critical of Sri Lanka's government at the time. Since then, appearing to resist at each stage, Ban has begun to acknowledge "the UN's" failure in 2009 to put "Rights Up Front," the title of his new, still non-public response to the events of 2009.

  But what was learned, if the UN in 2013 is offering congratulations for "successful military operations"?

  Inner City Press on Friday asked Ban's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq, to make sure this was an accurate readout. Haq said yes, the UN "stands behind" the read out.

  Some might ask, then, why Ban did not congratulate Syria's Assad government for "successfully" taking back some territory from armed opposition groups.

  There are differences, sure. But shouldn't the UN be hard pressed to congratulate military operations? To say, thanks for standing between mal-intended arms and civilians is one thing. To congratulate a military operation carried out with attack helicopters is something else. Isn't it? Watch this site.

   

On Mandela, France Reads #UNSC Statement But Wikileaks Cable Show France Rejected Him on Burundi, Pro DRC After Role in Rwanda Genocide

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 5 -- As news of Nelson Mandela's death spread on Thursday, at the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon read a statement and took two questions; written statements were issued by US Ambassadors Samantha Power and Susan Rice, President of the General Assembly John Ashe, even the International Monetary Fund's Christine Lagarde.

  It was said that UN Security Council president for December Gerard Araud of France would read the Council's statement at 7 pm. The UN Television camera was re-assembled, and a handful of journalists set up shop. It was pushed back to 7:20, then 7:30. Araud and his spokesman arrived and were heard discussing whether it would be French only, or English after French.

  As it turns out France and Mandela are linked, as luck would have it around Africa's Great Lakes Region. Mandela after wisely serving a single term as South Africa's president -- that is, not clinging to power -- in 2000 became facilitator of the Arusha Process seeking peace in Burundi.

  In that capacity Mandela briefed the Security Council, including on October 2, 2000, giving rise to this press statement mentioning Mandela as well as the Democratic Republic of the Congo's late president Laurent Kabila, or Kabila pere.

Cut to a December 28, 2004 cable on Wikileaks, recounting that

"France continues to seek solutions for the crisis in the Great Lakes through policies designed to support DRC President Kabila and the transition process and to block Rwandan interference in Congolese affairs. France's history in the Rwandan genocide complicates their ability to engage with Rwanda, leading the GOF, whether by inclination or out of necessity to seek P3 cooperation....Perhaps scarred by their experiences in Rwanda, the Government of France was unreceptive to USG efforts in 2001/2 to coordinate contingency planning for potential mass killings in Burundi. The French response was 'if you plan for it, you ensure it will occur.' French interest in Burundi briefly peaked in October 2002, following a call from Nelson Mandela to Chirac requesting funding for the deployment of an army of troops from Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya to engage the Burundi rebels military, an idea French officials characterized as 'crazy.' Mandela's request came to nothing."

  Final cut to Araud on December 5, 2013 at 8 pm in front of the Security Council, reading a statement praising Mandela's struggle. He started leaving the microphone as soon as the statement was finished. Away from the mic he said he never met Mandela. What about Burundi? There's to be a moment of silence in, and stakeout in front of the General Assembly on December 6. Watch this site.

   

UN Silent on DRC Pardon Request as Moland Dies in Jail, Somaliland News from FUNCA Member in Hargeisa

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 19 -- Not only will this UN never say it's sorry, for example for bringing cholera to Haiti, it won't comment on others' requests for pardon either.

  Inner City Press has twice asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson's office about Congolese legislator Muhindo Nzangi, who was arrested then quickly sentenced to three years in jail for insulting President Joseph Kabila on a Kivu radio station. The most recent answer, on August 15, was that Ban never comments on judgments by independent courts.

  If true - it seems not to be - perhaps Ban should reconsider, as least as to the DRC. While many prisoners die in Congolese jails, Western wire services have covered the death in custody of Norwegian Tjostolv Moland, at 32 years old, after unsuccessfully asking Kabila for a pardon.

  Since under Ban and Herve Ladsous the UN is now committed to trying to "neutralize" any opposition group which Kabila doesn't like, international publicity about deaths in Kabila's jail might be a problem. But Ban is going to South Korea, and Ladsous has been missing for a while.

Some good news, for once: from Somaliland, Free UN Coalition for Access member Mohamoud Walaaleye tells us that the ban then threats against Hubaal newspaper have been removed. We have a copy of the pardon but are not yet sure if it's also an apology. But in any event, it's more than this UN does. Watch this site.

   

On DRC Journalist Jailed, UN Slowed by Its Own Anti-Press Reactions, Silent on Sri Lanka Too

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 16 – When the Congolese government, the UN's partner, locked up journalist Joachim Diana Gikupa, what did the UN say? Nothing.

   The UN is hamstrung not only by the degree to which it partners with the government of Joseph Kabila, to the point of now allowing at least a rape “grace period” for Kabila's FARDC soldiers who committed at least 126 rapes in Minova in November. (Click here for that story.)

  In the media sphere, the UN's MONUSCO mission on January 30 issued a press release denouncing the publication by Inner City Press of a leaked MONUSCO document reflecting knowledge of FARDC support for the FDLR militia.

 

MONUSCO, then as now, does not even have an e-mail address on its “Contact Us” page. At the UN in New York, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokespeople to confirm or deny the authenticity of the MONUSCO leaks.

  But Ban's deputy spokesman Eduardo Del Buey said that the UN won't comment in any way on leaked documents.

 

It seems more than a little strange for the UN to refuse to provide any comment or guidance on detailed documents head “MONUSCO,” then to publicly denounce their publication. The goal seems to be to make publication of leaks impossible, or automatically condemnable.

 

And now, what position is MONUSCO in to meaningfully speak out about its Congolese government partner's arrest of a journalist for a story they didn't like? Birds of a feather.

 

Footnote: The Committee to Protect Journalists, to its credit, further amplified the protests of local DRC media and press freedom groups. But in a UN press conference last week, CPJ's Rob Mahoney declined to answer Inner City Press' question about the UN's accreditation rules barring journalists based on geography and “principles,” calling these “in house” matters.

  Asked about Sri Lanka, Mahoney answered about the disappeared cartoon Prageeth, but not on the more recently death threats Inner City Press asked about. He noted that CPJ's Asia expert Bob Dietz was sick and therefore not present at the UN.

  Now with Sunday Leader reporter Faraz Shauketaly shot in Colombo, the threats there are more serious. Will CPJ not only issue a statement but look beyond and into its corporate media partners and acknowledge that the UN's silence in Sri Lanka, back to 2009, and inside (“in house”) the UN in 2012, plays some role in and is related to this climate? Watch this site.

On DR Congo, Rice Tells ICP Solution Should Involve Rebels, Without Conditions

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, October 10 -- With the M23 mutineers entrenched around Rutshuru in Eastern Congo and Congolese President Joseph Kabila refusing to hold talks with them, the UN Security Council met on the topic on Wednesday afternoon.

  Inner City Press asked US Ambassador Susan Rice, after an hour and twenty minutes of the meeting, is the US thinks President Kabila should speak with M23, or only with his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame.

  Rice told Inner City Press, exclusively as it happened, that the solution should be "regional," with the "governments and rebel groups." She added, "I don't think there should be conditions on what it takes to resolve it."

The briefing, sources told Inner City Press, was requested by France, which has a troubling history in Rwanda and the Congo. Nevertheless, French Ambassador Gerard Araud left before Rice, an hour and 50 minutes before he was scheduled to speak at Colombia University -- about Syria.

  On the Kivus, France said only that there should be a dialogue between Kinshasa and Kigala -- with no mention of the rebels of the M23 and the issues they have raised.

   An interested non-Council diplomat told Inner City Press, "They are going for a PRST" or Presidential Statement, since the most recent regional talks about the Congo went so badly. 

   There was speculation if this might impact Rwanda's candidacy for a Security Council seat for 2013-14, with the election to be held later this month.

"So far it's still a clean slate," the source observed, wondering if another African country might emerge to challenge Rwanda. To us, this seems unlikely. Watch this site.

UN GA Schedule Has Iran, Chavez & Sri Lanka, Syria on Last Day, Qatar on First

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 14 -- After next month's UN General Assembly is kicked off on the morning of Tuesday, September 25 by Brazil's Dilma Rousseff and US President Barack Obama, then things get interesting. Inner City Press is putting the Provisional List of Speakers online here.

  The next day, Iran's head of state Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is scheduled to speak in the morning. Sri Lanka's Mahinda Rajapaksa starts that afternoon's session, which includes Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe.

  Also on the afternoon of September 26 is Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, followed the next morning by Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with the so-called M23 mutineers probably still on the agenda.

  But another son-of-a-leader, Syria's Bashar al-Assad, is not scheduled to come. Syria is related to what some call "garbage time" the next week and even month. On Monday, October 1, Syria is penciled in at only the Ministerial level.

  The same is true of the world's most populous democracy, India: only a minister will come, on October 1. Ethiopia, perhaps not surprisingly, plans to send its Deputy Prime Minister, on Friday, September 28 -- the same day Venezuela's Head of State -- Hugo Chavez? -- is scheduled to speak.

  Evo Morales of Bolivia is the last speaker on September 26, perhaps ready with the coca leaf he's waved before. Palestine is the last speaker on the morning of September 27 -- will another announcement be made?

  Turkey, which roughed up UN Security during Mahmoud Abbas' presentation last year, is set this year for the first day, but not in the premium time between Barack Obama and, well, France's new president Francois Hollande.

  In that Tuesday morning space is Qatar, armer of rebels everywhere, and Serbia whose Vuk Jeremic will have taken over the presidency of the the General Assembly from Qatar. 

  Morocco is in there, in the midst of its supposed dispute with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon about his Western Sahara envoy Christopher Ross.

  Also Tuesday morning there is Cyprus, which holds the presidency of the European Union (whose own spot comes on the next afternooon), Georgia, Indonesia and Bulgaria, sure to talk about this summer's terrorist attack.

Tuesday afternoon, beyond Turkey, has Finland (which isrunning for a Security Council seat against Australia -- confined to Thursday -- and Luxembourg). There are also Argentina sure to talk about the Malvinas, and Myanmar, unlikely to meaningfully address the abused Rohingyas.

What will have happened with the Rohingyas, with Assad and M23, by this debate in late September? Watch this site.

Facing Congo Election Questions, UN Uses Excuse of the East, Defers to Kabila

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 28, updated below -- When the UN spoke Monday at noon about the Democratic Republic of the Congo elections, which have seen complaints about lack of ballots, prohibitions on campaigning and a call for the UN to remove its envoy Roger Meece as biased for the incumbent Joseph Kabila, all Deputy Spokesman Eduardo del Buey did was read a Ban Ki-moon statement that had been circulated on Friday.

Inner City Press asked del Buey what the UN's response was to after-arising events, for example to the blockage of opposition candidate Etienne Tshisekedi at Kinshasa's airport during a time he should have been able to campaign. Video here from Minute 27.

Del Buey read again from Ban Ki-moon's pre-blockage statement, that security is the primary responsibility of the government: that is, incumbent Kabila and his allies.

There are reports of polling places without ballot in Beni, five dead in Lumumbashi, no electrical power in Bas Congo, gunfire...

The other excuse offered by del Buey was that the "bulk" of the UN's forces in the Congo are concentrated in the East. First, there are reports of irregularities there, too, including involvement of nationals of Rwanda across the border. Second, UN helicopters have flown over Kinshasa while campaigning was blocked. What is the UN's role?

Earlier on Monday, Inner City Press asked this month's president of the UN Security Council, Portuguese Ambassador Cabral, if events of the weekend in the Congo would be discussed by the Council.

"I don't know," Cabral told Inner City Press. "Obviously there's concern about the situation there. The situation is not a quiet one to say the least... We had consultations last week on it."

But things have changed in the past week. Both answers seem to reflect the lack of focus on the UN on the Congo elections, the lack of follow through, or perhaps a deference to Permanent Five members of the Security Council's views. But how can these, or the UN, in the future criticize similar moves in other elections? What level of irregularities does the UN accept? Watch this site.

Update of 3:15 pm -- outside the UN Security Council for a meeting about Libya, Inner City Press asked US Ambassador Susan Rice about the DRC elections, about Tshisekedi saying Meece should leave. "That tells you more about Tshisekedi," she answers. Still nothing from the Security Council. Watch this site.

As DR Congo Campaigning Outlawed, Plea to UN Answered by Stale Statement

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 27 -- With even campaign rallies outlawed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo before the elections slated for November 28, on November 25 the UN sent out a statement by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The statement did not call for an end to restrictions on campaigning, and said that it was under embargo and couldn't be published until Sunday, November 27 (without saying if this referred to New York or Kinshasa time).

If the UN was trying to use its bully pulpit to improve the anti-democratic mood in the eve of the election, it seemed strange to speak so far in advance, and under embargo.

In fact after Ban's statement in advance, which some called a "mind-reading" statement, was circulated a crisis occurred at the Kinshasa airport.

The main rival to Joseph Kabila Etienne Tshisekedi was blocked at the airport from going to campaign. Some of his supporters assembled; it was reported that an entreaty was made to the UN to intervene in favor of democracy, in this case, campaigning.

Another Kabila rival Vital Kamerhe, blamed the violence on pro-Kabila security forces. "The republican guard are in Kinshasa’s streets," he said. "That’s like how things started in Cote d’Ivoire, with the armed forces of the elite."

Whatever one thinks of the erratic Tshisekedi, with whom Ban met in June, one might have expected the UN to at least verbally side with democracy and campaigning. But on the ground, while Ban's statement remained under embargo, all the UN did was offer to escort Tshisekedi home, not to campaign.

Back on November 23, Inner City Press asked Ban's associate spokesman Farhan Haq about the election and Mr. Tshisekedi:

Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you about the Democratic Republic of the Congo elections. Now a candidate has been killed, Marius Gangale, and a lot of people are saying that foreign missions in Kinshasa are saying that there may be a delay past the 28th. I know that Mr. [Roger] Meese briefed the Council, but I am not sure what he said. Does the UN believe, should there be a delay to get the logistics in place, and what can they say about this killing of one of the candidates?

Associate Spokesperson: Well, as you know, we have supported a number of consecutive elections in the DRC [Democratic Republic of the Congo] and are hopeful that this one will go ahead on schedule. Mr. Meese did in fact brief the Security Council about the arrangements, and we continue to provide the support we can, including, of course, the security presence in the country. At the same time, of course, we are concerned about any violence against any side or by any side. And we are encouraging all sides to remain calm and pave the way for peaceful and smooth elections.

Inner City Press: Is he speaking with this opposition figure, Mr. [Etienne] Tshisekedi, because I went back and looked at the video where he had met with Ban Ki-moon, Tshisekedi... Is there some attempt by the UN to get Mr. Tshisekedi to sign on to these principles for the election, and do you think he will sign by the 28th?

Associate Spokesperson: It is hard to predict what any particular individual will do. We have been encouraging all sides to maintain calm and maintain a peaceful atmosphere that would be conducive to holding credible and free elections.

Nothing more was heard from Ban Ki-moon's Office in response to this until November 25: a statement that said it couldn't be reported until November 27.