UN Says Peacekeepers Killed in DR Congo, Cites Human Rights Due Diligence Policy - But Doesn't Apply It to French Soldiers' Alleged Rapes in CAR

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 5 -- The UN Mission on the DR Congo MONUSCO issued a press release in French on May 5, that an unnamed number of Tanzanian soldiers in its Force Intervention Brigade were killed in an ambush in Beni. Inner City Press' loose translation to English from the French is below.

 The MONUSCO press release ends with a reference to restoring cooperation between the UN mission and the Congolese Army, which the UN's Herve Ladsous broke off citing the UN's Human Rights Due Diligence Policy.

 But, as Inner City Press reported earlier today, Ladsous' DPKO argues that this same policy does NOT apply to DPKO's cooperation with the French Sangaris force in the Central African Republic, accused of sexually abusing children. Why not?

 Here is Inner City Press' translation of the MONUSCO release:

“I condemn the ambushing of the Tanzanian peacekeepers who were deployed to protect the population in Beni region. I express condolences to the families of the peacekeepers killed in combat, and solidarity to the wounded, whom I intend to visit on Wednesday,” said Martin Kobler, theUN SRSG in the DRC.

MONUSCO said that a unit of Tanzanian peacekeepers in the Force Intervention Brigade were ambushed on the Mavivi-Mayimoya axis, in the village of Kikiki some 11 kilometers south of Eringeti, resulting in several dead and wounded among the peacekeepers. This is the second attack in less than 48 hours on the UN peacekeepers in the region. On Monday, a helicopter with the Force Commander on board was fired on, requiring an emergency landing.

“This shows the need to restart cooperation between MONUSCO and the Congolese Army FARDC to secure the territory of Beni,” Kobler said - indirectly referring to the Rights Diligence Policy.

  French soldiers in the Central African Republic allegedly sexually abused children, and after more than nine months, no action has been taken. Inner City Press has repeatedly asked the UN how its supposed "Human Rights Due Diligence Policy" applies to its work with the French forces in CAR. 

  Now the UN has sent Inner City Press this answer: conveniently, the UN's human rights policy DOES NOT apply:

"Regarding your question on the human rights due diligence policy and the French forces in the Central African Republic, our peacekeeping colleagues inform us that the human rights due diligence policy applies for UN support to non-UN forces. In the case of CAR, during the period of the allegations contained in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights report, MINUSCA did not provide support to Operation Sangaris. MINUSCA has a working relationship with the French operation which does not fall under the human rights due diligence policy framework."

  While there is more to be said about the level of coordination between the MINUSCA mission, run by Frenchman Herve Ladsous, and the French Sangaris force, they are described as conducting operations together.

  So it appears that rich countries can buy their way out of the UN's Human Rights Due Diligence Policy. The Congolese Army needed or wanted supplies and transportation from the UN, opening them up to Ladsous' use of the Policy to justify the UN not participating in operations against the Hutu FDLR militia.

 Richer countries might "coordinate" with the UN, using its perceived legitimacy, but be exempt from any human rights due diligence.

  Does the Policy cover the French Force Licorne the UN has worked with in Ivory Coast?

 And if the UN or Ladsous can exempt French soldiers' rapes from the UN's supposed Human Rights Due Diligence Policy, could the UN say these child rapes don't require the inclusion of the perpetrators' forces on the Annex of the UN's Children and Armed Conflict report? We'll have more on this.

 No soldier has been prosecuted. French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian made that clear when he urges the perpetrators to turn themselves in. 

 It now emerges that UN Peacekeeping did not suspend any collaboration with the French forces, unlike its decision to not support the Congolese Army fighting the Hutu FDLR militia in the DR Congo. Both decisions are attributable to UN Peacekeeping chief (and long time French diplomat) Herve Ladsous.

 On May 5 Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric to compare the relationships between Ladsous' MINUSCA mission in CAR and the French forces, and his MONUSCO mission and the Congolese Army, with support suspended to fight the FDLR. Video here.

  Dujarric said every relationship is different - clearly - and then when Pressed added that the UN's Human Rights Due Diligence Policy, cited by Ladsous to not fight the FDLR, applies "across the board."

 So, Inner City Press asked, how was it applied, or not, to the French forces once the UN had the child rape allegations, nine months ago?

  Dujarric paradoxically said that's under the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services. But OIOS is not in charge of the UN's supposed Human Rights Due Diligence Policy. Ladsous' refusal to answer questions, and misuse of UN Peacekeeping, is bringing UN Peacekeeping to ever-new lows.

   

New Zealand's Ambassador Jim McLay Tells Inner City Press Press of Proposal For Monitoring UN's Force Intervention Brigade

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 19 -- New Zealand, new on the UN Security Council this year, is calling for increased monitoring of UN Peacekeeping military operations by the Force Intervention Brigade in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ambassador Jim McLay told the Press on March 19.

  After a Security Council meeting about the UN's mission in the DRC, McLay told the Press that there's a need for more frequent and detailed monitoring of the Force Intervention Brigade, which was created with troops from South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi in order to “neutralize” armed groups in the Eastern Congo.

  The FIB, as it is known, used attack helicopters and ended the largely Tutsi M23 rebellion. Now with some controversy the FIB is not being similarly deployed against the largely Hutu FDLR militia.

   Inner City Press asked McLay about this, and the perception that the Troops Contributing Countries to the FIB have a role in which groups it will target. McLay said that New Zealand's proposal is less about which groups the FIB engages and more about how the FIB engaged.

   Inner City Press asked if each contingent would monitor itself. McLay said “the most effective mechanism is probably a relative informal one,” that ensures the information comes to the Council more frequently than the standard 90 days. 

  “We owe it to the civilians,” McLay said, and also to the troops themselves. Asked if the monitoring reports would be public McLay said yes, it all becomes public in reports.

   This is not always the case, however. For example in December UN Peacekeepers in Haiti were filmed shooting at demonstrators. That UN report has still not been released.

   Still, increased oversight by the Security Council member states over the missions they create is needed. As another example, a UN Office of Internal Oversight Services “strictly confidential” report leaked to Inner City Press shows that UN Police positions in the missions in the DRC and Haiti were sold for money by the Deputy Permanent Representative of Cote d'Ivoire. Click here for report.

  That individual remains in his position, in and out of the UN building; the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (and the host country) have done nothing about that. Perhaps if other Security Council members, for example New Zealand, did more monitoring and oversight, things could improve. Watch this site.

   

After Speaking on Free Press in DR Congo, UN's Herve Ladsous Refuses Inner City Press Questions on FDLR Militia, Crackdown on Panzi Hospital (Video)

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 22 -- UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous made a speech about freedom of the press in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Thursday to the US Security Council, and made excuses for not acting to “neutralize” the Hutu FDLR rebels as the UN did the largely Tutsi M23. 

Then Ladsous came to the Security Council stakeout, ostensibly to take questions.

  Inner City Press asked, “On the neutralization of the FDLR, what is the hold up?”

  Ladsous said "I don't respond to your questions, Mister." Video here and embedded below.

   Then Ladsous turned and gave the question to Reuters. When that back and forth was over, Inner City Press asked if any of the countries in the UN's Force Intervention Brigade are well than willing to attack the FDLR, as senior diplomats at the UN have told Inner City Press.

   Ladsous refused to answer this question, and gestured that Ban Ki-moon's envoy to the DRC Martin Kobler, standing behind Ladsous at the stakeout, shouldn't answer it either. Reuters took or was given another question, distancing the FDLR from genocide.

  Finally Inner City Press asked both men what if anything UN Peacekeeping has done as the Kabila government has frozen the accounts of the Panzi hospital for rape victims.  Ladsous waved this off -- for months he waved off Press questions about mass rape in Minova by his partners in the Congolese Army, video here -- and walked away with this spokesman. 

 (One can only imagine the advise this “communications professional” is giving Ladsous. Perhaps he can help Ladsous address his history with Hutu groups as evidence in this memo. These are Press questions.)

   Kobler to his credit told Inner City Press he would come back and answer, and he did, albeit only some, and off camera. That will be another story. Because the story here is, how can a person in charge of UN Peacekeeping be allowed to refuse particular media's questions in this way? While, in classic UN fashion, giving a speech about freedom of the press, elsewhere? The weakness of current UN leadership comes to mind.

  But as many ask, WHY does Ladsous refuse to answer Inner City Press? While he has refused to answer that, too, it began when Inner City Press reported that Ladsous was not even France's first choice for the position - Jerome Bonnafont was.

   Tellingly, an Agence France Presse member of the Executive Committee of the so-called UN Correspondents Association complained about this Inner City Press story, and soon the Executive Committee of UNCA, under then and now president Giampaolo Pioli, made more complaint about that story, and another about Sri Lanka, demanding it be removed from the Internet.

   Inner City Press quit UNCA and co-founded the Free UN Coalition for Access, which demands that all UN Under Secretaries General answer questions. UNCA, for course, has said nothing about Ladsous' refusal. It is the UN's Censorship Alliance. More on this -- including video -- to follow.