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Burundi Tells UNSC No Journalists in Jail, OHCHR Silent on UN Drone Training
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, March 7 -- The UN's dysfunction on Burundi has reached the point where its spokesman can refuses to answer three Press questions in a row about the country, then run off the podium, saying "I'm lazy." Video here.
Also lazy - or retaliatory - is the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, whose spokesperson Rupert Colville has for 36 hours neglected to answer, on Burundi, these Press questions: "What is the view of High Commissioner for Human Rights on UN Peacekeeping reportedly providing training in drones to the Burundian contingent in the Central African Republic, given the Burundian security forces' human rights record at home? I have asked the UN Spokesperson about this three tims, without substantive response. More generally, how did the Burundian contingent pass human rights screening and get (re) deployed in CAR?"
Now, playing off that laziness, Burundi's Ambassador to the UN Albert Shingiro has filed a six-page response with UN Security Council president Matthew Rycroft, purporting to rebut Antonio Guterres' or his Special Adviser's report. Inner City Press has tweeted photos of each of the pages, here and here. It says, for example, "there is not journalists in jail in Burundi" [sic]. The Security Council is set to meet about Burundi, but only behind closed doors for now, on March 9. Watch this site.
On March 3, Inner City Press asked the UN's holdover spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you a couple questions about Burundi. One is just there… there was a letter sent in by Ambassador Shingiro dated 21 February, but it's only become public recently, saying that three politician… opposition politicians that had fled the country have returned and this is a good sign and should… should be circulated. People there are saying that these people didn't flee under threat of a… of arrest at all. It's kind of a misleading presentation. Have you seen this? Is…?
Spokesman: If it's been circulated, I have no… I have no way of verifying what the ambassador said.
Question: Sure. There's also a… because of the UN's historical, I guess, work on the FDLR issue, an FDLR member Habi… [inaudible] has re… has surfaced in Rwanda, and it's said that he was… had been in training the youth wing of the CNDD-FDD. And I wanted to know, which… in… both just in terms of the Sanctions Committee, who tracks this in terms of the FDLR, I guess, is looked at by the [Democratic Republic of the Congo] Sanctions Committee, but if, in fact, this group is in Burundi, does this fall within the mandate of…?
Spokesman: That's a question for the Security Council, how they organize and how they follow their own sanctions.
Question: And the other question… this is going to be now the third and, I'm hoping, last time that I'm asking you this, because I think it is in your mandate. DPKO [Department of Peacekeeping Operations]. Can you state why DPKO is — and, you know, you… it's been like about 10 days — training the Burundian contingent in CAR [Central African Republic] in the use of drones given what the Human Rights Council and others have said about the Burundian forces, how they operate in Burundi itself?
Spokesman: If I can get some confirmation...
Question: Have you tried? Have you…?
Spokesman: I do actually try. But, If I can get some confirmation, then I will share that with you.
Correspondent: They don't confirm that they're training…
Spokesman: As I said, if I get some confirmation, I will share it with you. Thank you.
New Secretary General Antonio Guterres in a delayed February 23 report says, of Pierre Nkurunziza, "an attempt by the president to seek a fourth term in office under the current circumstances would risk intensifying the crisis and undermining collective efforts to find a sustainable solution."
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Originaltitel
Burundi's Shingiro's Prepared Remarks to UNSC, March 9, 2017
Burundi Tells UNSC No Journalists in Jail, OHCHR Silent on UN Drone Training
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, March 7 -- The UN's dysfunction on Burundi has reached the point whe…