Exclusive: At UN, Malcorra M23 Meeting Panned, Angolan Presence in Bukavu Acknowledged

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, November 28 -- After the UN Security Council extended Congo sanctions on Wednesday morning for another 14 months, Congolese representative Ileka Atoki then his Rwandan counterpart spoke in the Council chamber. Dysfunction was on display.

   Rwanda made a pointed reference to some Security Council members' "escapades" in the Great Lakes region. Chief among these would be France. Notably, sitting in the chamber now representing UN Peacekeeping was Herve Ladsous, who was France's Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN during the Rwanda genocide in 1994.

Afterward in front of the Council the references became clearer, with the Habyarimana regime, which France in 1994 supported, being named.

Further details emerged about Tuesday's closed door consultations, after which Ladsous refused to answer any Inner City Press question, including what his MONUSCO did while the Congolese Army committed at least 21 rapes in Minova.

  The photographs Ladsous showed were called "pathetic." It emerged that Susana Malcorra claimed that in her visit to Makenga in Goma she saw weapons indicating external support. "Since when is she a guns expert?" it was asked. "These are just DPKO talking points."

  Inner City Press has been exclusively told that France confronted Malcorra and asked her by what right or authority she spoke with the M23 rebels. One Council member mused, what about the rebels in Syria?

  When French Ambassador Gerard Araud left the Council on Wednesday, Inner City Press asked him, to be sure, if France supported Malcorra meeting with M23.  It is already happened, Araud said with a smile. "There is no question of supporting, she has already done it."

   The more nuanced argument is that the Security Council is undermining the decision of the International Community of the Great Lakes Region, the type of regional organization the Council says it supports. The ICGLR said among other things that the Kabila government should address the legitimate concerns of the M23.

  It emerges that in consultations, a member insisted that is only one legitimate force in the DRC: the government. This is NOT what that government says about the government of Syria, it was pointed out, so it is a position of politics, not principle.

  Also afterward, Inner City Press spoke with Ileka Atoki of the DRC, asking about the rapes in Minova, which Ladsous refused to answer about. (Previously, Ileka Atoki has referred to UN peacekeeper's baisodrome on the Congo, their sexual exploitation.)

  Ileka Atoki to his credit expressed concern that the military leader sent to Minova might be too hard line.

When Inner City Press asked Ileka Atoki about reports of Angolan troops in Bakuvu, positing that these must have been false, Ileka Atoki told Inner City Press exclusively, "not so false, a line had to be drawn."

  Inner City Press asked, but what about the sanctions and arms embargo on the Congo?

Ileka Atoki replied that there were there only as part of the (future?) International Neutral Force. He said that the UN Security Council should listen more to SADC than the ICGLR, since SADC will be providing the troops.

So are some major members in the UN Security Council picking which regional group to purport to support? And how can the head of UN Peacekeeping get away with refusing to answer questions about his peacekeepers' inaction while the FARDC they partner with committed at least 21 rapes in Minova? We will have more on this. Watch this site.

At UN, Ambassador Ileka Atoki Tells ICP DRC Fired Back at Rwanda & Uganda May Have Sent Arms

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 19 -- When Ileka Atoki, the Democratic Republic of the Congo's former Ambassador to the UN and now France, came to the Security Council Monday evening, he stopped and answered a half dozen questions from Inner City Press.

  This stand in contrast to the UN, which has refused three times to say whether DRC or the M23 mutineers broke the ceasefire on November 9. UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous wouldn't even respond. Ladsous directed his spokesman to tell UN staff to keep the microphone away from Inner City Press.

  Ileka Atoki, who has previously complained to Inner City Press about raping and sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers, answered question after question from Inner City Press in front of the Security Council. We report his answers here.

  Inner City Press asked Ileka Atoki if DRC had, in fact, shelled Rwanda. He said yes, that Rwanda had fired first, and DRC responded.

  Inner City Press asked Ileka Atoki if the DRC supports the European Union's November 19 invitation to Ban Ki-moon to explore appointing a new special representative to the region. He said it's not a bad idea, if the person is high profile enough.

  Inner City Press proffered, Kofi Annan? Ileka Atoki nodded and said again, if high profile enough. Inner City Press asked about a current UN official, Abou Moussa. Ileka Atoki just stared.

  Inner City Press asked Ileka Atoki if the UN mission MONUSCO moved all its helicopters from Goma to Bukavu -- something that Ban Ki-moon's Deputy Spokesman Eduardo Del Buey told Inner City Press he had "no information" on when asked at noon. Neither did Ileka Atoki at 7:30 pm.

  Inner City Press asked Ileka Atoki if DRC claims that Uganda is also involved in fighting. He said, not in the current fighting, but Uganda may have sent weapons

  When Inner City Press asked Ileka Atoki about something French Ambassador Gerard Araud had said, that only one Council member is opposed to listing Rwanda in France's draft resolution, Ileka Atoki nodded and said he is not sure if it is the position of the government at issue, or the "individual" in the Council. 

  His reference clearly seemed to be to Susan Rice -- which we note some see to her credit.

  Inner City Press asked Ambassador Rice earlier on Monday if the US thinking DRC President Kabila should speak to the M23. She said, "We think there needs to be a peaceful resolution."

   Inner City Press asked Ileka Atoki if Kabila had yet spoken with, or even been called by, Ban Ki-moon. The answer appears to be no. We'll have more on this. Watch this site.

Congo Calls for Removal of UN Envoy Doss Before July, Proposes 3 French, 2 American Names as Replacement

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
www.innercitypress.com/drc1undoss031910.html

UNITED NATIONS, March 19 -- A day after the UN declined to say when the chief of its embattled peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo will be leaving MONUC, the Permanent Representative of the DRC Ileka Atoki told Inner City Press that "Alan Doss must go."

Inner City Press has asked Ambassador Atoki to confirm that his president Joseph Kabila has proposed to the UN that Doss be replaced by former top UN Peacekeeper Jean-Marie Guehenno, among others.

"I can confirm that we have give the UN five names," Ambassador Atoki said. Asked about the nationalities, and whether any Britons were included, he said "three French and two American" names had been presented to the UN.

"If the Secretary General extends Doss, even for months, there will be a problem," Ambassador Atoki said. He said that Doss was "condescending" and exemplified "corruption." Doss was exposed by Inner City Press for writing to the UN Development Program to show him "leeway" and give a job to his daughter.

On March 18, UN Associate Spokesman Farhan Haq told Inner City Press that the investigation is "ongoing." A nine month investigation of a six line e-mail, running out the clock until Doss leaves UN service -- as is now being demanded by the Congo. Watch this site.

Ambassador Atoki said, of the UN Peacekeeping mission more generally, that the UN has to learn to speak more correctly to the Congo. Told of DPKO chief Alain Leroy's comment on March 18 that the UN must stay until critical tasks are completed, Ambassador Atoki emphasized that the UN can stay only as long as the DRC allows it to.

Update: after Inner City Press repeated at the March 19 UN noon briefing its unanswered question from the previous day, the UN finally sent this:

Subject: Your question on Alan Doss
From: UN Spokesperson -donotreply@un.org
To: Inner City Press
Date: Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 12:32 PM

This is to inform you that SRSG Alan Doss's current contract expires at the end of June 2010.

So is the absurd delay in the nepotism investigation only a way to avoid making findings before Doss leaves, and then to declare that the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services has not jurisdiction over or interest in former UN officials?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/drc1undoss031910.html

UN in Congo Accused of Whoring and Working with War Criminals, Doss Blames Victim's Family, Cites Due Process

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/drc2doss101609.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 16 -- The UN's Mission in the Congo, MONUC, faces accusations from its host and a rapporteur. The UN's expert on summary executions Philip Alston in a October 15 report detailed, among other things, that a unit of the Congolese army in Shalio killed 50 refugees and raped 40 women.

Inner City Press on October 16 asked MONUC chief Alan Doss about the unit and its commander, Colonel Zimulinda, who is still serving with the Congolese Army with which MONUC works. Doss replied that there is an investigation, as he did about charges about his own scandals, click here for Inner City Press' other story on this today.

The Congolese Ambassador Ileka Atoki told the Security Council that on July 31 - August 1, UN blue helmets under Doss' command engaged in "sexual deviance," turning a spot near Congo's N'djili International Airport into a "baisodrome."

This was chastely translated as brothel, but the connotation is larger. He asked the Council and Inner City Press asked UN Spokesperson Michele Montas, what about the UN's vaunted 2005 "zero tolerance" policy on sexual abuse and exploitation​?

While on his own scandals Doss simply refused to comment, on this he blamed the victim, or the victim's family, saying that her brother asked for money. In the United States, a civil suit or request for a settlement does not prove that the underlying wrong did not occur, not does it absolve the UN under its own rules and proclamations. We will await the UN Secretariat's response, which was requested.

Doss said in the Council and to the Press that in the right circumstance his MONUC would withdraw support from Congolese Army units engaged in abuse. But he has never done so. Alston's report contains other abusive FARDC commanders' names: Sultani Makenga, Bernard Byamungu and Salumu Mulenda . What if anything will Doss do? Watch this site.

Admittedly, MONUC's job is not easy. But of late even some of Doss' supporters have begun to voice more loudly that he may not be the right official for the job.

Now Doss' deputy Ross Mountain is leaving, as talks about the future of MONUC have begun, in Washington. Perhaps a fresh beginning in both posts would work best.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/drc2doss101609.html