On Burundi, UN Peacebuilding Configuration Statement, Bland But Issued, Here

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 15 -- When the UN Peacebuilding Configuration on Burundi held a closed meeting on May 15, Burundi's ambassador began by saying that almost all of the coup plotters have been arrested. Later when it was suggested that the Configuration issue a statement, Inner City Press is told, the United States expressed doubt. But one was circulated, and was agreed to and issued past 7 pm on May 15, as this:

The Situation in Burundi
Statement by the Burundi Configuration of the UN Peacebuilding Commission

New York, 15 May 2015 – The PBC Burundi Configuration (see below)  met today to hear an update on the situation in Burundi by the Permanent Representative of Burundi, H.E. Mr. Albert Shingiro, as well as by the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Mr. Jeffrey Feltman. Today’s meeting of the PBC Burundi Configuration has been its third since 29 April 2015.

The PBC Burundi Configuration highlights the importance of dialogue and reconciliation among all Burundians to address the root causes of the current crisis. It stresses the need to find a lasting political solution that ensures Burundi’s hard gained progress in peace consolidation and peacebuilding.

The PBC Burundi Configuration calls on all Burundians to urgently establish, through open dialogue and a spirit of compromise, the necessary conditions for the holding of free, transparent, credible, inclusive and peaceful elections.

The PBC Burundi Configuration welcomes, encourages and fully supports continued regional engagement in Burundi, particularly by the East African Community, the African Union and the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region, with a view to finding a lasting solution to the crisis.

The PBC Burundi Configuration equally commends UN efforts, particularly through the Special Envoy of the Secretary General to the Great Lakes Region, Mr. Saïd Djinnit, and MENUB. It fully backs the Special Envoy’s mandate.

The PBC Burundi Configuration will continue to follow the situation closely and stands ready to help Burundi at this critical juncture of its journey towards sustainable peace and development.

The Configuration is composed of the following countries, UN representatives and regional and international financial institutions: Angola, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bosnia Herzegovina, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Croatia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Guatemala, India, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Rwanda, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, African Development Bank, African Union, Communauté Économique et Monétaire de l’Afrique Centrale, Economic Commission for Africa, Economic Community of Central African States, European Union, International Monetary Fund, Organisation internationale de la francophonie, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Special Representative of the Secretary-General, United Nations Development Programme, World Bank. 

   During the meeting, Inner City Press is exclusively informed, Tanzania's Ambassador asked the UN's head of Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman why the UN and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had been so slow to condemn the coup.

   Inner City Press put the question to Ban's deputy spokesman Farhan Haq at the UN's public noon briefing on May 15, to give the UN a change to publicly explain. 

  But as on a scandal about Ban and his nephew being reported on here by Inner City Press and media in Vietnam and South Korea, where Ban Ki-moon is headed, Haq response was essentially that the UN is good, that is does not need to explain (in the case of Ban's nephew) or should be presumed to be always deeply engaged and deeply concerned. Some simply don't believe that.

   While Haq at the May 15 noon briefing said that Ban, who has yet to speak with Nkurunziza, spoke with Kenya's President Kenyatta, Inner City Press is informed that in the closed Peacebuilding Configuration meeting it was said that Ban called Rwanda's Paul Kagame as well. If so, why didn't Haq say that? (Click here for another exclusive story about Ban's office not disclosing Ban's call with US John Kerry about Yemen).

  Much of the Peacebuilding Configuration meeting involved indirect criticism of the European Union for getting “too involved” in Burundi's constitution, followed by a proposal that the Configuration should issue a statement on Burundi. 

 The US, Inner City Press was informed, expressed opposition or skepticism of the latter; Inner City Press reported that a draft would still be circulated by the configuration chair, Swiss Ambassador Paul Seger. It was not blocked.

  France, Inner City Press is informed -- that Mission responds to but does not answer its questions -- said that the Security Council spoke and that those (mere) Elements to the Press remain as valid today as the day before.

  The EU for its part said it is in discussions with the African Union about a human rights mission to Burundi. After the meeting, some expressed doubt to Inner City Press this will ever happen; at the noon briefing Inner City Press asked Haq if the UN would participate and was told that the UN has other more mediate focus right now.

  While Haq did not deliver the UN's best defense, in fairness Inner City Press will: it could say it was waiting for the East African Community and African Union to speak first, which the US - which quickly condemned the coup, even after criticism the possible third term - and EU don't have to consider, as much.

 (Click here for Tanzanian President Kikwete telling Inner City Press, a week ago, to "be patient" on Burundi, with video.)

  Feltman was asked if the US has better intelligence than the UN (he should know, having been with the US State Department). Of course, Feltman is said to have replied, the US has intelligence that works and the UN does not.

   Some in the meeting, including Brazil, said that uncoordinated statements can enflame. In this case, Inner City Press or the Free UN Coalition for Access would say it is good to have a configuration, so to speak, other than the Security Council which can speak. Watch this site.

Footnotes: as Inner City Press tweeted, the US pulled out non-essential personnel (Haq wouldn't confirm UN actions), and also the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said Pierre-Claver Mbonimpa has gone into hiding, under death threats. (Sadly, seems it's true; you may read more on this.)

As Inner City Press reported yesterday, along with theresponse it got on Burundi from the International Monetary Fund, it has been exclusively informed of some $9 million in UN Peacekeeping “Contingent Owned Equipment” funds about which doubts are being raised. We'll have more on this.

   

On DR Congo, UN Admits Continued Minova Rape Case Delay, Insists Its Two Trucks in Anti Kagame Convoy Were "Taken Over"

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 13 -- After UN envoy Martin Kobler told the Security Council on January 13 about "the need to address ill-discipline within the [Congolese Army] FARDC and National Police and to pursue all outstanding cases of misconduct," Inner City Press asked him about the FARDC's mass rapes at Minova in November 2012. 

  Kobler acknowledged that the most recent hearing in the Minova case had been postponed, that witness statements have still not been taken. Video here, from Minute 6:32. 

  Given that the UN says it has a Human Rights Due Diligence Policy of not supporting army units engaged in abuses, how much longer will the UN accept this? Thirteen months and counting.

  Perhaps relatedly, after rumors of the death of Rwanda's Paul Kagame were shot down, across the border in the Eastern Congo, a time-stamped photograph was tweeted of a UN truck full of people on the back, captioned "MONUSCO in Goma celebrating the death of Pres Paul Kagame."

  It seemed worth asking the UN mission chief Martin Kobler to comment on or explain the photograph, and Inner City Press sent this, to Kobler and three MONUSCO spokespeople:

"Please comment on / explain this time-stamped photo, which is being described as a UN truck participating in "celebrations" of the rumor of the Rwandan president's death. Do you dispute that the photo was taken on January 10? To whom is the UN giving a ride in this truck / photo? In what context?"

   After a time, UN envoy Kobler replied:

"@innercitypress Ceci apparait de toute évidence comme une utilisation frauduleuse d'un véhicule de la #Monusco. C'est inacceptable"

  Translated: "This appears clearly as a fraudulent use of a vehicle of the #Monusco. This is unacceptable."

(Translation not by Google, not only because of NSA spying issues but also acquiescence in Digital Millennium Copyright Act abuse by Reuters UN bureau, click here for that.)

  The question became, now what does Kobler, or those above him in New York, do?  

  Inner City Press on January 10 went to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's press conference, 11 am in New York, to ask this question: "in the DRC this morning, after false rumors of Paul Kagame being dead, a MONUSCO truck was photographed in what some call celebrations and Martin Kobler told me is "unacceptable." What do you think your UN should do about this, in terms of the perception of impartiality or bias by the UN?"

  But Ban's acting deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq did not call on Inner City Press, instead automatically giving the first question to the United Nations Correspondents Association(a/k/a UN's Censorship Alliance), then mostly questions soft on the UN about Syria.

  Next came spin from MONUSCO, e-mailed to the Press:

Fraudulent use of MONUSCO truck in Goma

Kinshasa, 10 January 2014 - MONUSCO is aware of a photo being circulated on the internet showing a MONUSCO truck in Goma during a demonstration.

In reality, the truck was taken over by demonstrators while on a regular mission. The driver was alone and unarmed when the incident happened. MONUSCO condemns this agressivity against its assets.

MONUSCO has launched a full investigation to ascertain the circumstances and the context surrounding the incident. 

  But how does the UN explain, then, this UN jeep or Four by Four in this longer video of the anti-Kagame protests, from Minute 1:04 to 1:54? http://youtu.be/L9EPcUOpT1M

 On January 13, Inner City Press asked Kobler about the two vehicles. He said that both had been taken over, which now seems to mean that the UN drivers remained in the vehicles, carrying the protesters, on the single road from Sake to Munigi, through Goma.

  Kobler said the drivers were unarmed, but even if armed would not have tried to get the demonstrators off, at least not be using force. He said the protesters got off or disappeared out by the Uruguayan peacekeepers' base by the airport. There is more than a little skepticism. But that is what Kobler said: video here, from Minute 6:32.

   Watch this site.
   

From DR Congo, UN Envoy Kobler Tells Inner City Press UN Truck in Kagame Death Rumor Celebration "UNacceptable" - But Now What?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 10 -- After rumors of the death of Rwanda's Paul Kagame were shot down, across the border in the Eastern Congo, a time-stamped photograph was tweeted of a UN truck full of people on the back, captioned "MONUSCO in Goma celebrating the death of Pres Paul Kagame."

  It seemed worth asking the UN mission and its chief, Martin Kobler, to comment on or explain the photograph, and Inner City Press sent this, to Kobler and three MONUSCO spokespeople:

"Please comment on / explain this time-stamped photo, which is being described as a UN truck participating in "celebrations" of the rumor of the Rwandan president's death. Do you dispute that the photo was taken on January 10? To whom is the UN giving a ride in this truck / photo? In what context?"

   After a time, UN envoy Kobler replied:

"@innercitypress Ceci apparait de toute évidence comme une utilisation frauduleuse d'un véhicule de la #Monusco. C'est inacceptable"

  Translated: "This appears clearly as a fraudulent use of a vehicle of the #Monusco. This is unacceptable."

(Translation not by Google, not only because of NSA spying issues but also acquiescence in Digital Millennium Copyright Act abuse by Reuters UN bureau, click here for that.)

  The question is, now what does Kobler, or those above him in New York, do?  Watch this site.

   

In DR Congo, Kabila Leaves UNSC Waiting, UN Won't Answer But Rwanda FM Mushikiwabo Does

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 4 -- The UN Security Council was in Kinshasa Friday night, planning to head to Eastern Congo on Sunday, but the UN in New York refused to answer basic Press questions such as if they would meet any opposition while in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.Video here and embedded below.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, it must be noted, a week ago met with Saudi-sponsored Syria rebel boss Ahmad al Jarba, and ignored a protest under the UN Charter of France sponsoring Jarba in a UN meeting room as the "sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people."

Ban's spokesperson Martin Nesirky on Friday also refused to answer Inner City Press' request for information about the Security Council's meeting in Brussels with the EU Political and Security Committee, saying "ask Council members."

   That's a neat trick -- Ban's Office "in consultation" with France rejected Inner City Press' requests to accompany and cover the trip on the UN plane, as it did in 2010 and 2008.

  Even thus Banned, Inner City Press mid-day Friday reported that the topic of the International Criminal Court came up in the Brussels meeting and Council members were told that the ICC is controversial in Africa because of its politicization (not unlike Ban's and France's Jarba meetings.)

  For this African trip, France hand picked three media to go along as scribes, including Reuters (whose UN bureau has spied for the UN, click here) and US state media Voice of America. 

  Neither reported anything on the first day of the trip. The third media, a procedural Council reporter, was first to break radio silence -- and said that while Rwanda's president Paul Kagame has committed to meet the Council, a meeting with the DRC's Joseph Kabila was not yet confirmed. Amazing.

  When Inner City Press accompanied the Security Council in the past, it reported on waiting for hours in N'djamena while then French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert promised the Idriss Deby would come meet with Council member. 

  Deby never arrived, and Ripert in anger stopped speaking to the Press. (In fact, Ripert confronted Inner City Press in the Kigali airport, but that's another story.)

  By contrast to Nesirky's refusal to provide basic information, Rwanda's Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo when asked by Inner City Press what the Rwanda government hopes results from the Security Council tripanswered, "@innercitypress #UNSC #Rwanda Good/better understanding of regional reality, and what stakes are."

  So a foreign minister can be responsive, while Ban Ki-moon's Office of the Spokesperson is not? 

  Nesirky said that the function of his Office's staffer on the trip, Jerome Bernard, is only to "support the journalists on the trip" -- that is, those hand-picked by France. It seems M. Bernard himself was hand-picked: he worked for a dozen years for Agence France Presse.

  The Security Council still functions as a neo-colonial, non-transparent institution. This, not just the often cited vetoes, is what has held it back. Ban's Secretariat is too often a plaything of the P3. But we will continue to cover this trip. 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.

At UN's Mis-Run MDGs Q&A, Key Rwanda Question Cannot Be Asked

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 26 -- The topic was the Millennium Development Goals Advocacy group, and the three stakeout speakers on Wednesday at 5 pm were to be Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Julia Gillard of Australia and Rwanda's Paul Kagame, the chairman.

But when it began, late, Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson stood in the middle between the two heads of state and apologize. Moments later, Jeffrey Sachs joined the three, and also gave an opening statement.

There should have been time for questions -- Inner City Press wanted to ask not only about the impact of the global financial downturn on the non-attainment of many MDGs, but also what President Kagame thought of countries cutting their aid to Rwanda after report of the UN Group of Experts coordinated by Steve Hege.

But none of these questions could be asked. Only two questions were taken before it ended, one from the Australian business press, as Gillard is lobbying to win a three way race for two Security Council seats with Luxembourg and Finland, and the first about "one cow per family." Basic homework could have improved this and the following stakeout.

On his way out Eliasson apologized to the Press, saying he hadn't been the one selecting or limiting the questions. President Kagame was in a rush, and it is not clear if there will be any press availability to ask about aid and M23 and Hege. So it goes at this UN.