In
Burundi, Use
of "Peacekeeping"
Armaments
UNclear, UN on
COE
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
series
UNITED
NATIONS, May 18
-- As the UN
Security
Council, the United States
and the UN
Peacebuilding
Configuration
on Burundi on
Friday evening
issued
statements
urging calm in
the country,
Inner City
Press learned
of a quite
different
trend, from
within the UN
itself.
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous,
multiple
sources
exclusively
complained to
Inner City
Press, wrote a
letter urging
that Burundi's
government be
provided with
weapons,
ostensibly for
peacekeeping,
including
grenades. One
letter, they
said, was to
Montenegro.
The sources
asked Inner
City Press
what
safeguards if
any were in
place that
these grenades
and other
weapons are
not used
against
democracy
protesters in
Burundi
itself. They
noted that
Ladsous'
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
"let
Nkurunziza
take nine
million
dollars from
the
contingent-owned
equipment
fund," which
one called "a
variation on
Rwanda in
'94."
And
so on May 18,
Inner City
Press asked UN
deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq to
explain any safeguards
concerning
equipment or
weapons
acquired by
Burundi for
"peacekeeping"
being used domestically.
Haq said that
DPKO monitors
this. Video
here.
Inner City
Press asked,
since
countries use
their own equipment
for overseas
deployment and
charge the UN
for it, how
does the UN
monitor how
it's used when
it returns to
the
contributing
country?
Haq insisted
that DPKO monitors
for
this.
(When Inner
City Press asked
why Ladsous
over the weekend
chided Malians
for not being
thankful enough
to France,
Haq told Inner
City Press to
"Ask DPKO" --
what, Ladsous
who does not
answer? His
spokespeople
who grab
microphones or
use file
folders to
block the filming
of Ladsous?
On the
afternoon of
May 18, a well
place African
Permanent
Representative
told Inner
City Press
flatly, Ladsous
should resign.
Inner City
Press asked
Haq about Burundian
security
forces
searching
civilians
phones for
evidence they
protested the
possible third
term. Haq said
"if that is
proved" -- if.
Haq said envoy
Said Djinnit
might briefing
the Security
Council on
Wednesday May
20, and might
brief the
press - might.
Inner City
Press asked if
Ban had called
any head of
state beyond
Kenyatta about
Burundi. Haq
said, Museveni
of Uganda.
We'll have
more on this.
Another noted
that since
Ladsous had,
as French
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
in the
Security
Council in
1994 defended
the escape
into Eastern
Congo of the
Rwanda's Hutu
genocidaires,
this push to
sell grenades
to Nkurunziza
was "not
surprising."
But why should
such an
individuals be
head of UN
Peacekeeping?
Apparently it
is up to
France and
France alone.
Others noted a
closed door
session of the
UN's budget
committee set
for next week
in which
Ladsous'
intervention
to try to
force out the
whistleblower
who revealed
French
"Sangaris"
troops' child
rapes in
Central
African
Republic would
have to be
defended, this
time by Ban
Ki-moon's
chief of staff
Susana
Malcorra.
"Why don't
they just fire
Ladsous?" one
well place
diplomat asked
Inner City
Press, then
answering the
question:
"because
France." But
for how long?
Watch this
site.
During the UN
Peacekeeping
configuration
meeting on May
15, 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).
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