Question: I have three questions, but I’ll break them up if you want. I wanted to ask first about the Congo and MONUC [United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo]. There is an interview with Zimurinda, the noted warlord accused of war crimes by Philip Alston, in which he says that the UN continued to provide him and his units assistance into January 2010, that is after the Alston report, after Mr. Doss said it was no longer taking place. And he, one of his associates, Dieudonne, says that that assistance continues to come, and thank you very much to the UN. So I am wondering, given all the statements that have been made about this particular individual, is Zimure… does the UN dispute his statement that he received assistance from the UN into January? And if it doesn’t, how do you, how does the UN, explain the various statements that were made? Spokesperson: Well, first of all, I assume that you are referring to the Washington Post’s story, which is not just an interview, it’s quite a wide-ranging piece. It’s not just an interview. Well, first of all, MONUC reiterates that it is not providing support to Zimurinda or any units under his command. And to come to the second point that you were raising, MONUC rations or other support may have reached units in Zimurinda’s sector during Kimya 2 and in January, contrary to MONUC’s intent. No direct MONUC support was provided to him or his unit.
Let me explain how this works. When Kimya 2 was running, MONUC was providing, as I have mentioned to you before in connection with this present operation, providing dry rations, fuel and medevac, for example. But most important of these was the food, the dry rations. And when you had that operation running, Kimya 2 running, those supplies were being taken to distribution points; about 80 distribution points from which the FARDC, the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, distributed further. So, MONUC brought the food supplies to these distribution points, and then from there it was further distributed. That process was going on up to the end of Kimya 2, and it continued for a couple of weeks into January. The reason for that is that you cannot just turn the tap off. MONUC was not continuing to provide supplies into the system. There were already material supplies in the system, for example, at these distribution points. And from these distribution points, it’s being delivered out further by the FARDC. And clearly, MONUC is not controlling that closely. It cannot be monitoring every individual supply that goes out of those 80 distribution points. So that’s very important, to understand the mechanics of it. And just to reiterate, no direct MONUC support was provided to him or to his units. What this Washington Post article does, it gives the inaccurate impression that Kimya 2 rations in the pipeline in January were directed to Zimurinda. This is not the case.
seen at 12:00, 9 March
in
Spokesman for the UN Secretary General.
Email this to a friend.
Next item;
Original source;
Previous item;
