By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, June 24 -- With elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo scheduled for November, on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's schedule for June 24 at 9:15 am appeared candidate Etienne Tshisekedi.
When Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesman Farhan Haq for a readout or summary of the meeting, and if the UN believes the elections are on track to be held in November, Haq would not answer either question. He said that the UN doesn't give readouts of meetings like this.
Nor does the UN appear to give notice. The Permanent Representative of the DRC Atoki Ileka complained to Inner City Press that he was never told that Ban was meeting with DRC candidate Tshisekedi, nor the topic of the meeting.
It has emerged that in order to hold the elections in November, the voters register would have had to be completed by May. But it has still not been completed, bills about it still stalled in the parliament.
When Roger Meece, the head of the UN Mission in the Congo MONSCO, was recently in New York, he spoke about the elections without giving notice of this delay. He painted a happy picture, including rejecting calls that the UN more closely track human rights violations related to the upcoming elections.
Some also found Meece's presentations in New York “a little light,” as one observer put it, on the issue of sexual violence and rape.
Amb. Ileka in UNSC with Araud of France, Nov election not shown
Now on June 23 the UN announced at its noon briefing that
We have received several worrying reports about incidents of an unknown number of alleged rapes and looting committed in the Nyakiele area in South Kivu, some 40 kilometres north of Fizi town, between 9 and 12 June. Investigations to confirm these reports are ongoing in consultation with local authorities. The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and partners are dispatching an assessment team to Nyakiele, a remote village located 8 hours by foot from the nearest UN military base. The humanitarian NGO [non-governmental organization] Médecins Sans Frontières has separately reported treating over 100 victims of rape and other forms of trauma since accessing this small village on 21 June.
As Inner City Press reported earlier this year, from the previous mass rape scandal that confronted Meece from his first days atop MONUSCO, only Mayele is still in jail, and even he may be released. Now what?
Ban Ki-moon's representative on sexual violence and conflict Margot Wallstrom, was Tweeting during this period. Here are four in a row:
Swedish speaker? Read "Viagra vapen i Libyen" in today's Dagens Nyheter @ http://t.co/4NXELgG. Monday, June 20, 2011 10:30:44 AM via web
More for Swedish speakers: "Viagra är Gaddafis vapen", op-ed in today's NSD @ http://t.co/xDDXd6Y. Monday, June 20, 2011 11:13:28 AM via web
Attending the ceremony for the appointment of Ban Ki-moon as Secretary-General of the UN for a second term. Tuesday, June 21, 2011 4:04:28 PM via web
I condemn in the strongest possible terms the mass rape of over 150 civilians, mainly women and girls, in the area of Minembwe, South Kivu about 19 hours ago via web
And so it goes at the UN. Watch this site.
