The UN seems to have lost its way not only in the Middle East but also in Africa. In effect, because of its excess attention on the 58 year old Palestinian issue, created by the Arab intransigency and resolve not to accept the State of Israel in their midst, the whole UN system has been highjacked, and it is very difficult to find cases where the UN does it right - whatever the issue at hand. Now we see before us the charade called July 30, 2006 elections in the not so Democratic Republic of Congo - and the UN does not seem to care.

The following is from a Matthew Russell Lee posting on www.InnerCityPress.com :

Kofi Annan Questioned about Congolese Colonel Who Kidnapped Seven UN Soldiers.

UNITED NATIONS, July 24 — When does allowing a warlord who kidnapped UN peacekeepers to become a colonel in the Congolese national army scream of not only of impunity but distraction, disinterest, and lack of attention? At what point does hoping for the best become denial and sweeping under the rug?

On Monday the UN Secretary-General was asked about the Congo, as he rushed by in a hallway to a meeting with corporate executives, and from there to Rome to discuss the Middle East. Over the weekend in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Mr. Annan’s envoy William Lacy Swing said that the UN is “not overly anxious” about violence in Ituri in Eastern Congo in the run-up to the July 30 election. But the problems have gone beyond violence. One week before the vote, churches all over Congo began to preach of boycott, if concerns of vote-rigging for current president Joseph Kabila are not addressed.

At Monday’s noon briefing at UN Headquarters, Kofi Annan’s spokeswoman was asked what the UN is doing in the face of the churches’ boycott calls, and about the reported stoning of UN vehicles accompanying Kabila in the southern province of Kasai. Very gently, the spokeswoman recounted Kofi Annan’s visit to the DRC some weeks ago, including speaking with the churches. But if the churches, now a week before the vote, are calling for boycott, past communications may be not guarantee of future success, as they say.

Inner City Press asked pointedly if the UN Mission has spoken with the churches which are preaching about boycott. The spokeswoman said she would check. Near deadline the following was received:

“Matthew, The SRSG in the DR Congo has commented on the call by local priests that Congolese boycott the elections. Mr. Swing has call that move ‘untimely.’ He has also said that tremendous progress has been achieved in preparing for the election and that the DRC ‘is arguably the only sub-region in Africa that has always lacked any centre of political stability and because of the size of this country, with nine neighbors, it is the only country that can give it that stability.’”

It remains to be seen what Mr. Swing means by “untimely.” There is a legalistic meaning, meaning “raised too late.” Or he may mean, “raised at an unfortunate time.” But the criticisms have long been raised. Wanting stability is not the same thing as achieving it.

Seven UN blue helmets in Congo

Inner City Press last week asked if the UN was aware, when its seven kidnapped peacekeepers were released earlier this month, that the warlord who took them hostage would be made a colonel in the Congolese army. The response included references to “no ransom” and “we did not try to have any conditions attached.” Written requests for on-the-record comment from the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations remain outstanding. The election is six days away…

In that context, Inner City Press waited more than an hour outside Conference Room 7 in the UN Headquarters basement, hoping to ask Secretary-General Kofi Annan if he knew about Peter Karim. On May 30 at a then-more-frequently stakeout by the Secretary-General, Inner City Press asked about the peacekeepers, and Kofi Annan named Peter Karim, saying he would be held “personally accountable”. From the video at Minutes 13:40 - 15:25, and the transcript:

Inner City Press question of Mr. Kofi Annan: “On the Democratic Republic of the Congo, what’s being done for the 7 peacekeepers that were taken hostage in Ituri? And also, over the weekend, the UN military head in Bunia said elections can’t really be held in this type of circumstance? What can be done in the run-up to elections to make it more?”

Secretary-General’s answer: “It is tragic what happened in Bunia and we lost one Nepalese and three are wounded and about seven are missing. And we have been in touch with Karim’s group — we think that is the group holding them, and demanding their release. And hopefully, we will get them released. But Karim and others who get involved in these sort of activities, must understand that they will be held accountable, as Lubanga has been picked up and is now in the hands of the ICC [International Criminal Court]. They will be held individually accountable for these brutal acts.”

Fifty four days later, as Mr. Annan left the Conference Room where he’d been meeting with pharmaceutical executives for more than an hour, Inner City Press approached with a “Congo question.” One of two bodyguards motioned to stay back. As Mr. Annan exited from the bathroom, Inner City Press gave him wide latitude, only asking “Peter Karim?”

Mr. Annan gestured that he was otherwise occupied, that his mind was full. “I’ve got the pharmaceutical,” he said.

Inner City Press of the week prior’s article, “Congo Rebel to Lay Down Arms, Become Army Colonel.” The question in the margin: personal accountability? (May 30, 2006). Or impunity. And contact information. We’ll see.

Inside Kofi Annan met with executives from, among others, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck (which for those counting was up fully 4.6% on the day, higher than absent rival Pfizer’s 3.4%. One wag said perhaps the trip to the UN was too arduous for Pfizer.

Rudimentary research shows that Peter Karim was described as a thief of the DRC’s resources in the 2002 UN Report ” Uganda’s illegal resource exploitation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” S/2002/1146, at Paragraphs 98 and 116 -”98.

The elite network operating out of Uganda is decentralized and loosely hierarchical, unlike the network operating out of Rwanda. The Uganda network consists of a core group of members including certain high-ranking UPDF officers, private businessmen and selected rebel leaders/administrators. UPDF Lieutenant General (Ret.) Salim Saleh and Major General James Kazini are the key figures. Other members include the Chief of Military Intelligence, Colonel Noble Mayombo, UPDF Colonel Kahinda Otafiire and Colonel Peter Karim. Private entrepreneurs include Sam Engola, Jacob Manu Soba and Mannase Savo and other Savo family members. Rebel politicians and administrators include Professor Wamba dia Wamba, Roger Lumbala, John Tibasima, Mbusa Nyamwisi and Toma Lubanga.

“116. Trinity Investment’s local transporters in Bunia, the Savo family group among others, carry agricultural products, wood and cattle from Bunia to Kampala exempt from UPDF toll barriers and export taxes. Trinity investment also works with another front company under the name of Sagricof to fraudulently evacuate wood from North Kivu and the Ituri area. Tree plantations have been raided in the areas of Mahagi and Djugu along the north-eastern border with Uganda. Concerned citizens and research by local nongovernmental organizations have identified Colonel Peter Karim and Colonel Otafiire, in addition to the Ugandan parliamentarian Sam Ngola, as key figures in the illegal logging and fraudulent evacuation of wood.”

The UN has other, even more personal and damning information on Karim. So, when does allowing a warlord who kidnapped UN peacekeepers to become a colonel in a national army scream of not only of impunity but distraction, disinterest and lack of attention? At 5:15 p.m., after having devoted an hour and forty-five minutes to corporate executives, Kofi Annan swept away through the hall, bound for Rome in order to talk about the Middle East - and not Bunia - head filled with GlaxoSmithKline not the Congo, with an article and question. We’ll see.

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