UN Report Shows DRC Army Taxing Conflict Gold, Mined by FDLR, Waiting for Ladsous

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Full Text

UNITED NATIONS, June 30 -- There is a lot of talk at the UN against conflict minerals, the exploitation of natural resources for conflict. But does the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations under Herve Ladsous live up to this?

As with Ladsous' non-enforcement of the UN's supposed conditionality and human rights due diligence policies with regard to the Congolese army units implicated in 135 rapes in Minova in November, the UN's stated principles are being systematically undermined.

Pursuing the Minova abuses since last November, in the face of repeated Ladsous refusals to answer, Inner City Press asked the UN for a list of the units of the Congolese army (FARDC) which it supports. The UN, or Ladsous' DPKO, refused.

  Now the new UN Democratic Republic of the Congo sanctions report, which Inner City Press put exclusively online early yesterday, lists FARDC units involved in conflict gold, even in locked up miners who refuse to pay their “tax” in underground prisons. A sample paragraph:

165. The 10th Military Region of FARDC controls the Mukungwe gold mine, in Walungu territory, South Kivu (see S/2011/738, paras. 528-532). At this site, FARDC soldiers collect illegal taxes weekly from artisanal miners. Miners who fail to pay are arrested and held in an underground prison until payment of the tax is made. The Group obtained an October 2012 letter from the president of one of Mukungwe’s local cooperatives that reminded the local army intelligence officer that the weekly tax of 1000FC (USD 1.11) per miner needs to be split between the ANR, the police and the army (see annex 73). A former FDLR officer in charge of logistics told the Group that the FDLR also collected taxes from miners working in Mukungwe, as well as in Rukatu mine, in Mwenga territory; FDLR accrues USD 2000 per month from both mines.

  Inner City Press has previously reported on FARDC support to the FDLR militia -- which Ladsous' MONUSCO denied in a vituperative press release of January 30, 2013. Here's a paragraph about the FARDC-supported FDLR:

According to a former FDLR officer and gold traders in Butembo, the FDLR are involved in gold mining in North Kivu’s Lubero Territory. According to several former FDLR combatants, FDLR commanders are also drawing profits from gold mines in Walikale. In some instances, FDLR combatants search for gold themselves, and in other cases, they tax gold miners, demanding their production one day per week.

So has MONUSCO supported FARDC’s 10th Military Region?

  Inner City Press already has specific questions pending at DPKO without yet an substantive response. Inner City Press has asked DPKO chief Herve Ladsous' four top spokespeople to comment on these issues -- and, incidentally, if they have a new position on their MONUSCO's January 30, 2013 press release denouncing the publication (now confirmed by the Report) of links between the FARDC and FDLR, by Inner City Press. Now, DPKO confirmed receipt more than 22 hours before this publication, but so far no substantive response.

  On questions ranging from the 135 FARDC rapes in Minova through the kidnapping of UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights, the introduction of cholera into Haiti and Ladsous and Ban Ki-moon accepting as an adviser of a Sri Lankan military figure depicted in the UN's own report as engaged in war crimes, Ladsous' strategy has been to provide answers to Inner City Press' questions to other, friendlier journalists.

  Now evidence has emerged that for at least one of these outlets, Reuters' UN bureau, the flow goes the other way to, with the provision to the UN of information ostensibly only for the UNCA group that the UN should not have, here. This is being pursued by the new Free UN Coalition for Access, @FUNCA_info.

  Ladsous is today in Mali (where as noted he is incorporating a UN listed child soldier recruiting country into DPKO's peackeeping mission MINUSMA to be so launched tomorrow). But Ladsous, ever since Inner City Press asked about his statements during the Rwanda genocide, has refused to answer Inner City Press' questions, video compilation here. Watch this site.

  

UN Sanctions Report Shows DRC Army Using Child Soldiers, Rules Herve Ladsous UNdermines in Mali

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Full Text

UNITED NATIONS, June 30 -- There is a lot of talk at the UN against the use of child soldiers, and to mitigate the impact of armed conflict on children. But does the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations under Herve Ladsous live up to this?

  As first reported by Inner City Press, Ladsous is poised to pay as UN peacekeepers in Mali the Chadian army, which is on the UN's own list of child soldier recruiters.

  As with Ladsous' non-enforcement of the UN's supposed conditionality and human rights due diligence policies with regard to the Congolese army units implicated in 135 rapes in Minova in November, the UN's stated principles are being systematically undermined.

  Pursuing the Minova abuses since last November, in the face of repeated Ladsous refusals to answer, Inner City Press asked the UN for a list of the units of the Congolese army (FARDC) which it supports. The UN, or Ladsous' DPKO, refused.

Now the new UN Democratic Republic of the Congo sanctions report, which Inner City Press put exclusively online early yesterday, lists FARDC units involved with child soldiers. Two sample paragraphs, on

“...cases involving the illegal detention and use of children for military purposes by the FARDC. According to FARDC and MONUSCO sources as well as local authorities in the Kisala area of Butembo territory, between February and April 2013, FARDC’s 1032nd Battalion arrested four boys aged between 15 and 17 on charges of belonging to the Nyatura rebel group. An FARDC Major subsequently enlisted three of them as cooks, while assigning the fourth to be a soldier in Mushaki with the 106th Regiment commanded by Col. Civiri.

150. In April, UNICEF separated 19 children from the FARDC 812th Regiment located at Camp Bobozo in Kananga, in Kasai Occidental province. The Regiment had rotated from North Kivu to Kananga in March, and had forcefully recruited the children before their departure from North Kivu. Four soldiers from this Regiment acknowledged to the Group that they had been aware of the presence of the minors (commonly referred to as ‘kadogo’) in their ranks. In April, UNICEF separated two minors (one of them a girl) from the same Regiment; both had been forcefully recruited.”

So has MONUSCO supported FARDC’s 1032nd Battalion or 812th Regiment?

Inner City Press already has specific questions pending at DPKO without yet an substantive response. Inner City Press has asked DPKO chief Herve Ladsous' four top spokespeople to comment on these issues -- and, incidentally, if they have a new position on their MONUSCO's January 30, 2013 press release denouncing the publication (now confirmed by the Report) of links between the FARDC and FDLR, by Inner City Press. Now, DPKO confirmed receipt more than 17 hours before this publication, but so far no substantive response.

  On questions ranging from the 135 FARDC rapes in Minova through the kidnapping of UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights, the introduction of cholera into Haiti and Ladsous and Ban Ki-moon accepting as an adviser of a Sri Lankan military figure depicted in the UN's own report as engaged in war crimes, Ladsous' strategy has been to provide answers to Inner City Press' questions to other, friendlier journalists.

Now evidence has emerged that for at least one of these outlets, Reuters, the flow goes the other way to, with the provision to the UN of information ostensibly only for the UNCA group that the UN should not have, here. This is being pursued by the new Free UN Coalition for Access,@FUNCA_info.

  Ladsous is today in Mali (where as noted he is incorporating a UN listed child soldier recruiting country into DPKO's peackeeping mission MINUSMA to be so launched tomorrow). But Ladsous, ever since Inner City Press asked about his statements during the Rwanda genocide, has refused to answer Inner City Press' questions, video compilation here. Watch this site.

  

UN Denied Congo Army Links With FDLR, Denounced Inner City Press, Now Silent on DRC Sanctions Report

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Full Text

UNITED NATIONS, June 30 -- Does the UN, or at least its Department of Peacekeeping Operations under Herve Ladsous, seek to ascertain and tell the truth? Or rather to cover it up and vilify those who seek it?

  Earlier this year Inner City Press published documents from the MONUSCO mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo showing that the UN knew of links between its partners in the Congolese Army and the FDLR rebels, linked to the genocide in Rwanda.

  The UN's response was for MONUSCO to issue a press release that

“Kinshasa, 30 January 2013: Since yesterday, certain media outlets have been posting a document ascribed to the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) which would confirm a cooperation between the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) and the Forces armées de la République démocratique du Congo (FARDC)... MONUSCO condemns the production and dissemination of such false information that can only contribute to an escalation of regional tensions in general and perpetuate the violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.”

  In New York, the Office of the Spokesperson for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon repeated this line, while telling Inner City Press it would not even deny, much less confirm, “leaked” documents.

  Now the new UN Democratic Republic of the Congo sanctions report, which Inner City Press put exclusively online earlier yesterday, itself belatedly confirms a non-aggression agreement between the FARDC and FDLR, and the provision of weapons, ammunition and intelligence by the FARDC to the FDLR.

  Inner City Press has asked DPKO chief Herve Ladsous' four top spokespeople to comment on this -- and, incidentally, if they have a new position on their MONUSCO's above-quoted press release. They confirmed receipt more than 12 hours before this publication, but so far no substantive response.

  Ladsous in in Mali (where he is incorporating a UN listed child soldier recruiting country into DPKO's peackeeping mission MINUSMA to be so launched tomorrow). But Ladsous, ever since Inner City Press asked about his statements during the Rwanda genocide, has refused to answer Inner City Press' questions, video compilation here.

  On questions ranging from the 135 FARDC rapes in Minova through the kidnapping of UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights, DPKO's introduction of cholera into Haitiand Ladsous and Ban accepting as an adviser of a Sri Lankan military figure depicted in the UN's own report as engaged in war crimes, Ladsous' strategy has been to provide answers to Inner City Press' questions to other, friendlier journalists.

  Now evidence has emerged that for at least one of these outlets, the flow goes the other way to, with the provision to the UN of information ostensibly only for the UNCA group that the UN should not have, here. This is being pursued by the new Free UN Coalition for Access, @FUNCA_info.

  Here are a few sample paragraphs from the new UN Group of Experts DRC sanctions report which Inner City Press exclusively put online yesterday:

the FARDC first abided by a tacit non-aggression agreement with the FDLR. However, the declining security situation in eastern DRC, culminating with the fall of Goma on 20 November 2013, enhanced the collaboration between some FARDC units and the FDLR in areas of close proximity with M23-controlled territory. The Group has documented local-level collaboration between the FARDC and the FDLR, and continues to investigate the extent to which the FARDC hierarchy may be involved in such collaboration. The Group sent a letter on 12 June 2013 to the Government of DRC asking for clarification about this support and is awaiting a reply.

107. The Group interviewed 10 FARDC soldiers in Tongo, in North Kivu, who reported that FARDC and FDLR regularly meet and exchange operational information. These same sources stated that FARDC soldiers supplied ammunition to the FDLR. Col. Faida Fidel Kamulete, the commander of FARDC 2nd battalion of 601st Regiment based at Tongo, denied such collaboration, but declared to the Group that FARDC and FDLR do not fight each other. FDLR officers and an FDLR collaborator told the Group that “Col.” Jean-Baptiste Gakwerere aka Esdras Kaleb, who commands the FDLR deployed in Tongo is in charge of the coordination between FDLR and FARDC officers in the area.

108. Four former FDLR soldiers from Tongo and Bambo confirmed to the Group that FARDC soldiers had transferred ammunition to FDLR, with the instruction that it had to be used against M23. In January 2013, two FDLR former soldiers witnessed separately meetings between FARDC and FDLR in the Tongo area, at which they exchanged operational information. One of the soldiers told the Group that he saw FARDC transfer ammunition to FDLR during one of these meetings, while the second saw an FARDC officer give boxes of submachine gun ammunition to the rebels. Between January and April 2013, a former FDLR soldier witnessed four distinct ammunition transfers by the FARDC based at Bambo to the FDLR, while in February, another former FDLR soldier saw FARDC hand over ammunition to the FDLR, also at Bambo.

109. An FARDC officer and local leaders from Muja, 10 kilometers north west of Goma, also reported to the Group a pattern of collaboration between the FARDC and the FDLR. The FARDC has established positions at Muja and Rusayo to defend Goma against the M23. According to FDLR commanders, the FDLR North Kivu Sector CRAP unit under “Maj.” Alexis, usually based at the Nyamulagira volcano in the Virunga National Park, carries out regular operations in that area. The Group interviewed two former FDLR soldiers who surrendered from Muja, and both were aware of ammunition transfers from FARDC commanders. One of the former soldiers claimed to have witnessed the supply of boxes of submachine gun ammunition from FARDC soldiers to the FDLR.

As noted, questions have been put by Inner City Press to Ladsous four top spokespeople, including

This is a request on deadline for DPKO to state whether it or MONUSCO have provided any support to any of the following in the DRC:

FARDC 905th Regiment, under the command of Col. John Tchinyama, including filmed torture in Mambasa -- was the Ituri Brigade of MONUSCO there? What is the UN's response?

Col. Willy Bonane Habarugira acting commander of FARDC forces in the Safisha Operational Zone (Ituri) -- also, what is DPKO's / MONUSCO's understanding of his role in the looting of the UN in Bunia?

Col. Faida Fidel Kamulete, the commander of FARDC 2nd battalion of 601st Regiment based at Tongo (who is quoted that the “FARDC and FDLR do not fight each other” -- this is also a request, yes or no, if DPKO and MONUSCO still stand behind theJanuary 30, 2013 press release [above].

These questions are asked in light of DPKO's stated conditionality and human rights due diligence policies; on that, and separate from the above, this is a request to receive any and all DPKO response to the DRC Sanctions Committee report.

There are other questions, these are on deadline, now.

Watch this site.

  

As ICC Is Used In NBC's "Crossing Lines," Of Immunity, Ruud Lubbers and UN's Failure in Sri Lanka

By Matthew Russell Lee, TV Review

UNITED NATIONS, June 29 -- The UN system has become so low-profile if not to say irrelevant during the tenure of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that any mainstream coverage might seen good. And so some welcomed NBC's new series “Crossing Lines,” which uses the International Criminal Court, albeit inaccurately and absurdly.

  In the pilot double episode, a “dream team” of six detectives wants to investigate four killings in four European countries, but doesn't have jurisdiction. How to solve this plot problem? Travel to The Hague and meet Luis Moreno Ocampo facsimile Donald Sutherland.

  At first Sutherland / Ocampo demurs. But then after a reference to Kosovo, a card is played: the crime of aggression. That's it -- Sutherland gives the detectives a warrant. And they're off to Paris.

  But there the local authorities are not impressed by the ICC, not unlike the current government of Kenya. The detectives are locked up until they show their ICC paper. They are released. Simple as that.

  The bad guy uses diplomatic immunity, American, to drive through check points without getting his car searched. This week at the UN, Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesperson Eduardo Del Buey about a Peruvian diplomatic to the UN now charged with human trafficking. Not our problem, Del Buey in essence said. Transcript here. And below.

  The idea of the ICC being used against immunity, though, brings to mind for example the UN's own immune Ruud Lubbers, here. Or why not the UN bringing cholera to Haiti?

  The whole thing makes one wonder why the ICC could do nothing -- nothing! -- about the killing of 40,000 civilians in Sri Lanka in 2009. There wasn't even much call for ICC involvement, unlike today in Syria. It's only TV. And that was a war without witnesses.

  One imagines a realistic show about the UN. One imagines. Watch this site.

  

From the UN's transcript of its June 26, 2013, noon briefing:

Inner City Press: could I ask you about a charge of human trafficking against a UN diplomat that works at the UN in the Peruvian Mission. And given --

Deputy Spokesperson Del Buey: Well, excuse me…

Inner City Press: Alright.

Deputy Spokesperson: He does not work at the UN.

Inner City Press: In the UN.

Deputy Spokesperson: He works for the Peruvian Mission.

Inner City Press: Okay, absolutely. He is a UN diplomat. My question is just, given the important of this topic to the Secretary-General and the Secretariat in general, does he take any interest in this case? Do they see this as a proper use of immunity? If the allegations are true is this a proper use of the term human trafficking and is there some concern that people work in the building, not for the UN, have you know, immunity that this may be a loophole for human trafficking?

Deputy Spokesperson: Well, we are not going to prejudge what happens until we have the information, Matthew.

Inner City Press: Right, but you will seek the information…?

Deputy Spokesperson: Well, we are…

Inner City Press: I mean, at some point?

Deputy Spokesperson: …we are obviously monitoring…

Inner City Press: Okay.

Deputy Spokesperson: …the situation, but as I said at the beginning, this… the reports we’ve seen are of a Peruvian diplomat assigned to the Peruvian Mission at the United Nations…

Inner City Press: Sure.

Deputy Spokesperson: …not a United Nations staff member…

Inner City Press: No, I understand.

Deputy Spokesperson: …not a member of the general Secretariat.

Inner City Press: Sure.

As Congo Sanctions Report Shows UN-Supported DRC Army in Extortion & Helping Mai Mai Morgan, DPKO Is Asked

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Full Text

UNITED NATIONS, June 29 -- The new UN Democratic Republic of the Congo sanctions report, which Inner City Press put exclusively online earlier today, puts disproportionate focus on one armed group, the M23.

The Group of Experts accept MONUSCO's estimate of FDLR troop strength, and appear not to have heard of the UN's claimed conditionality policy. Even with regard to the Congolese Army units they depict engaged in human rights violations, from rape to torture, to mention is made of UN support for the FARDC.

We are already covered Col. Faida Fidel Kamulete, the commander of FARDC 2nd battalion of 601st Regiment based at Tongo, who said “FARDC and FDLR do not fight each other.”

Likewise we've covered Col. Willy Bonane Habarugira acting commander of FARDC forces in the Safisha Operational Zone (Ituri), who organized the looting of the UN in Bunia.

But now consider the filmed torture at Hotel Pygmy in Mambasa town (see annex 44) and “rape, harassment, extortion and arbitrary arrests” by “soldiers from the FARDC 905th Regiment, under the command of Col. John Tchinyama” - Report at Paragraph 75. The Ituri Brigade of MONUSCO was right there. What did they do?

  What about the Mai Mai's “Morgan talking to FARDC officers on a satellite phone prior to and during the attack on Mambasa. These people further informed the Group that allies within FARDC guided Morgan along routes through which he could avoid encountering government forces” - does the UN still support those FARDC units, which the Report leaves unnamed in Paragraph 74?  We are asking.

  The 135 rapes in Minova by two units of the Congolese Army have not resulted in any suspension of UN support, despite only two arrests being made for the rapes. This, like the inclusion of a listed child soldier recruiter into the new UN mission in Mali, is the responsibility of Herve Ladsous, the fourth French head of UN Peacekeeping in a row.

  Ladsous in his previous incarnation as French deputy permanent representative at the UN during the Rwanda genocide argued for the escape of the genocidaires into Eastern Congo. When asked by Inner City Press about it, he started talking about “innuendo” and refusing to answer questions.

The UN's and Ladsous' non-enforcement of human rights due diligence and conditionality policies were air brushed from Reuters gloss on this report -- not surprising, not only politically but also in light of recent evidence that Reuters gives the UN information the UN should not have, here: quid pro quo?

But now, the question have been put to no fewer than four DPKO spokespeople. Watch this site.

  

UN DRC Sanctions Report, Put Online by Inner City Press, Shows FARDC Looting & Deals with FDLR

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Full Text

UNITED NATIONS, June 29 -- Yesterday, Inner City Press exclusively put online the Annexes to the new Democratic Republic of the Congo sanctions report, zeroing in as others haven't on Congolese Army torture, looting and rape, beyond the 135 Minova rapes the UN has failed to act on.

Today, Inner City Press puts online exclusively as an HTML file the 215 paragraph report itself, here. Usually right before UN Security Council meetings, this time just before the full deployment of the Council's “Intervention Brigade,” the reports are leaked to a Western wire service and set the tenor of the debate.

  Rarely are the actually documents put online, only the wire service's gloss. In this case, Inner City Press immediately critiqued that gloss, which for example ignored Rwanda's opposition to two of the Group of Experts' members, Bernard Leloup and Marie Plamadiala, on which Inner City Press previously reported.

But now, after receiving copies from even more members of the Security Council, Inner City Press is putting not only the Annexes online, but also the report, as an HTML file, here. 

  Along with the new Free UN Coalition for Access, Inner City Press believes that the public, particularly the impacted public, has a right to see the actual documents, and not only Western wire services' spin of them.

Readers will of course focus on the parts most of interest to them. Inner City Press' focus, in the Great Lakes as in Haiti, Sri Lanka and elsewhere, is the UN at least purporting to try to live up to its stated principles.

The 135 rapes in Minova by two units of the Congolese Army have not resulted in any suspension of UN support, despite only two arrests being made for the rapes. This, like the inclusion of a listed child soldier recruiter into the new UN mission in Mali, is the responsibility of Herve Ladsous, the fourth French head of UN Peacekeeping in a row.

Ladsous in his previous incarnation as French deputy permanent representative at the UN during the Rwanda genocide argued for the escape of the genocidaires into Eastern Congo. When asked by Inner City Press about it, he started talking about “innuendo” and refusing to answer questions, video here.

The UN's and Ladsous' non-enforcement of human rights due diligence and conditionality policies were air brushed from Reuters gloss on this report -- not surprising, not only politically but also in light of recent evidence that Reuters gives the UN information the UN should not have, here: quid pro quo?

For now, consider these:

107. The Group interviewed 10 FARDC soldiers in Tongo, in North Kivu, who reported that FARDC and FDLR regularly meet and exchange operational information. These same sources stated that FARDC soldiers supplied ammunition to the FDLR. Col. Faida Fidel Kamulete, the commander of FARDC 2nd battalion of 601st Regiment based at Tongo, denied such collaboration, but declared to the Group that FARDC and FDLR do not fight each other.

When Inner City Press published internal emails from the MONUSCO UN Mission on this topic, MONUSCO replied angrily via press release that it was false. Now that the Group says it too, will MONUSCO attack the Group of Experts?

MONUSCO has not responded to a request, in French no less, by the Free UN Coalition for Access, digging into the UN system's and particularly UN Peacekeeping's one-way social media, to clarify how many FARDC arrests there have been for the 135 rapes in Minova in late November. Now what of the UN mission MONUSCO working with Congolese Army units intertwined with the FDLR?

“138. On 20-21 November 2012 in Bunia (Ituri District, Orientale Province), PNC and FARDC organized the looting of more than three-dozen facilities belonging to MONUSCO, various United Nations agencies, and international humanitarian organizations, as well as residences of UN and humanitarian staff (see annex 65). Eyewitnesses in Bunia and a report by the District of Ituri specifically identified Col. Willy Bonane Habarugira (see annex 66),29 who was acting commander of FARDC forces in the Safisha Operational Zone (Ituri), as having organized and participated in the ransacking of UN and humanitarian facilities...The Military Tribunal in Bunia convicted 5 PNC and 1 FARDC of pillaging; however, the government has brought no charges against either Col. Bideko or Col. Bonane despite their well-known roles in the pillaging.

“29 In 2009, the U.S. Government rejected Col. Bonane for participation in a U.S.-run military training course due to his poor human rights record.”

We'll have more on this. Watch this site.

  

Exclusive: UN Congo Sanctions Annex Shows DRC Army Raping, Torturing & Arming FDLR, Now What?

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, June 29 -- The UN's Congo sanctions annex which Inner City Press exclusively published late yesterday reflects the UN's unwillingness or inability to report honestly on itself or act according to its stated principles.

  The UN provides military support to the Congolese Army, but states that this is conditional on compliance with human rights and international humanitarian law. 

  When UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous chose to continue supporting the 41^st and 391^st Battalions after they were implicated in 135 rapes in Minova (and only two soldiers have been arrested), the policy was undercut to say the least.

  But the new report showed other Congolese Army units and commanders engaged in torture, rape and even attacks on the UN. (These last are given detailed treatment, down to the looting of a UN bar and the pulling of air conditioners out of the wall.)

The 812th FARDC regiment commanded by Col. Mudahunga committed mass rape, and targeted ethnic Hunde civilians, in Kitchanga earlier this year. But all the report says is that the 812^th was later re-deployed. Annex 61; Report at Paragraph 124.

  The FARDC 905th Regiment, under the command of Col. John Tchinyama, committed torture at Mambasa earlier this year. Annex 44. But the Group of Experts merely put the video in the UN's archive. 

  Col. Faida Fidel Kamulete, the commander of FARDC 2nd battalion of 601st Regiment based at Tongo, said the FARDC and FDLR do not fight each other. 

When Inner City Press published internal emails from the MONUSCO UN Mission on this topic, MONUSCO replied angrily via press release that it was false. Not that the Group says it too, will MONUSCO attack the Group of Experts?

MONUSCO has not responded to a request, in French no less, by the Free UN Coalition for Access, digging into the UN system's and particularly UN Peacekeeping's one-way social media, to clarify how many FARDC arrests there have been for the 135 rapes in Minova in late November. (This is confined to a paragraph, admitting only two arrests contrary to the "nine" figure given by MONUSCO's new force commander.)

  Still, the Group of Experts takes its estimate of FDLR strength from MONUSCO, while leaving to an aside FARDC providing ammunition to the FDLR.

  Col. Willy Bonane Habarugira led the looting of the UN in Bunia, but nothing has been done. Annex 65, Report at Paragraph 138.

The report runs through child soldiers, including a MONUSCO travel document in the Annex -- but Ladsous' DPKO is on the verge, in two days, of putting a listed child soldier recruiter, Chad, into a UN Peacekeeping mission.

As noted, Ladsous in his previous incarnation as French deputy permanent representative at the UN during the Rwanda genocide argued for the escape of the genocidaires into Eastern Congo. When asked by Inner City Press about it, he started talking about “innuendo” and refusing to answer questions. Watch this site.

Footnote: The UN's and Ladsous' non-enforcement of human rights due diligence and conditionality policies were air brushed from Reuters gloss on the report -- not surprising, not only politically but also in light of recent evidence that Reuters gives the UN information the UN should not have, here: quid pro quo? And so it goes.