Exclusive: After 50 Rapes by Mai Mai Morgan in DR Congo This Month, Silent UN Slammed to Inner City Press by Whistleblowers

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, February 28 -- A mass rape in Eastern Congo earlier this month by the Mai Mai Morgan militia group, with links to the Congolese Army, is being covered up the UN Mission MONUSCO, whistleblowers in UN Peacekeeping have exclusively told Inner City Press.

They say that over 50 women were raped over three days around February 8 in the villages of Zalana and Mbango near Mambasa, and that the UN Mission has been aware of it since at latest February 12. Why hasn't the UN spoken out?

Mai Mai Morgan, led by elephant poacher and illegal gold miner Paul Sadala a/k/a Morgan a/k/a Chuck Norris, has links with parts of the Congolese Army FARDC who are also involved in the illegal gold trade. For that reason, they say, Congolese authorities do not arrest or even speak much about Mai Mai Morgan.

And now the UN has gone silent too.

This comes the same week as US Secretary of State John Kerry and his UK counterpart William Hague held a press conference in Washington about sexual violence in conflict; it is a topic on which UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says the UN has "zero tolerance." But the whistleblowers ask, why then the silence about these rapes?

  It is reminiscent of the months-long cover up by UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous about the more than 100 rapes in Minova in November 2012 by Congolese Army Battalions 41 and 391, the latter US-trained. Before that, amidmass rapes in Walikale, MONUSCO under then envoy Roger Meece tried to obscure what they knew and when they knew it.

  In the run up to a meeting of UN Special Representatives of the Secretary General, to be attended by Ban Ki-moon himself, the whistleblowers asked when MONUSCO chief Martin Kobler knew about these rapes, if not why not, and if so: why the silence?

  The UN's silence, the whistleblowers say, stands in contrast to how the UN highlighted every alleged abuse by the M23 rebels in the run-up to MONUSCO's "Force Intervention Brigade" attacking and neutralizing them. 

  There, human rights reporting fed into a military strategy. Here, with the Congolese Army linked to Mai Mai Morgan, the UN does not report abuses the whistleblower say the UN is aware of. 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 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.

  

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.

UN's Congo Sanctions Porn, Spun By Reuters, Now Put Online by Inner City Press: Rwanda Was Defamed, Hege Lives On? By

 Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, June 28 -- The politicization of the UN's sanctions process is perhaps most clear in connection with the reports on the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

  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 a number of Council members, Inner City Press is putting the Annexes online, exclusively, here. The report itself is, typically, watermarked each with the name of the Council member to which it was given. The annexes do not bear the mark, and even by a biased Group of Experts undercut the wire service's one-sided summary.

  The Group's lack of seriousness is evident even from the first Annex, in which Uganda's 2012 letter is labeled “October 13, 2013.” Note to Leloup and Plamadiala -- that date has not yet occurred.

  These are followed by self-serving “extracts” and photos of ammunition looted, a truck and tank taken, photos of the M23 headquarters taken by The Group -- from a helicopter no less -- and almost pornographic pictures of bullets and their launchers. (In the vein, in Annex 44 the Group includes some stomping at the “Hotel Pygmy in Mambasa town.”)

  Finally, only in Annex 50, the Group gets into the FDLR, a militia actually linked to a genocide.

  There is an annex of 509 names provided by the Rwandan government -- portrayed by Reuters as not cooperating, in an article which uploaded neither the report nor its annexes.

  The UN, Reuters' partner (click here to see Reuters UN bureau chief leaking to the UN, against Inner City Press, leading to the formation of the new Free UN Coalition for Access) typically is most concerned with attacks on itself. In Annex 64 it showed burned trucks.

  There are screen shots of SMS messages -- never mind that the UN denied or stonewalls on documents showing when Bosco Ntaganda was working with the FARDC they supported. The process is entirely politicized.

  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.

  Now what of the UN mission MONUSCO working with Congolese Army units intertwined with the FDLR? After UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, in his previous incarnation representing France in the Security Council, argued in favor of letter the genocidaires escape from Rwanda into Eastern Congo? 

  Ladsous, of course, hand his information to favored scribes, at least one of which returns the favor to the UN, as recently shown.  And who did this one? And now what? Watch this site.

  

Ladsous' Cover Up: UN Says Helps FARDC in Ituri, But Not Which Units & If In Minova During Rapes

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 16 -- While the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations claims it will not work with or support units of the Congolese army which engage in rape or other abuse, DPKO chief Herve Ladsous has three times on camera refused to answer Press questions about Congolese Army rapes in late November in Minova. 

 Click for videos of November 27, December 7 & December 18.

The UN has even refused to say which units of the Congolese army it works with. 

   But when it was reported that in a particular operations in Mambasa the UN supported the Congolese Army or FARDC, Inner City Press on January 15 asked about it.

   Twenty four hours later, just as the January 16 UN noon briefing became, Nesirky's office emailed Inner City Press this:

On 5 January, the Mayi Mayi Simba militia attacked and captured the city of Mambasa, Ituri, in Province Orientale. The next day, on 6 January, MONUSCO supported the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) in an operation against Mayi Mayi Simba, which led to the recapturing of the city of Mambasa. The FARDC is now in full control of Mambasa Town and MONUSCO is carrying out joint patrols with FARDC.

  The response totally ignores Inner City Press' question of WHICH UNITS of the FARDC were being supported by the UN. How can Ladsous' DPKO spend public money and refuse to disclose who it is helping?

  The UN also provided a response about the "Minova investigations" which still does not specify which FARDC unit were there -- Inner City Press is aware of, at least, Regiment 802 and Regiment 1001 -- nor even how many soldiers are accused of the rapes, as opposed to looting.

  To many, this has become Ladsous' cover up. And where is Ladsous? Watch this site.