On
Burundi,
ICP Asks
Uruguay VM
Cancela About
Ladsous Memo,
Never Again?
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 19 --
After UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon on New
Year's Eve
issued a
statement
praising the
Burundi
“talks” held
in Entebbe,
Uganda,
multiple
sources told
Inner City
Press not only
were these not
talks but
rather a photo
op -- it was
also badly and
some said
self-servingly
organized. The
January 6
session
announced for
Arusha did not
happen.
But on
January 6 UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous wrote
to the UN
Security
Council how
his Department
couldn't or
wouldn't stop
genocide, if
it were to
progress, in
Burundi. VICE
and RFI have
written on it;
Inner City
Press put
the entire
Ladsous
document
online here.
On January 19,
Inner City
Press asked
Uruguay's Vice
Minister for
Foreign
Affairs Jose
Luis Cancela,
chairing the
Security
Council debate
on Protection
of Civilians,
about Ladsous'
position that
he couldn't or
wouldn't stop
a genocide in
Burundi. Video
here.
Cancela,
previously his
country's
Permanent
Representative
at the UN,
replied
diplomatically
that the
consent of
host countries
is required --
one might say,
then “Never
Again” means
little -- but
then focused
on the
upcoming
Council trip
to Burundi.
We'll be
reporting on
if not from
that - the
process for
selected
remains
UNtransparent.
Burundian
civil society
has written to
Ban seeking
the
repatriation
of the
country's
peacekeepers.
Inner City
Press has put
the letter
from Vital
Nshimirimana
to Ban online
here, and
will be asking
the UN about
it. Watch this
site.
On
December 30
Nkurunziza
threatened to
have his
forces attack
peacekeepers
proposed for
the country.
On
December 16
Inner City
Press was
banned from
questions to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, but
learned from
the mission
MINUSCA that
Baratuza was
already in
Entebbe. Inner
City Press
asked several
Security
Council
members, then
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric on
December17.
Dujarric told
Inner City
Press
Baratuza's
deployment is
suspended and
he is being
repatriated:
"based on the
information
we've received
regarding the
Lieutenant
Colonel, his
deployment has
been
suspended, and
he will be
repatriated
back to
Burundi." Video here. Dujarric told Inner
City Press
this shows the
UN system
working - on a
day when a
report on
rapes was
issued showing
UN
Peacekeeping
under Herve
Ladsous not
sufficiently
vetting for
human rights.
We'll have
more on this.
Amid the
escalating
killings in
Burundi, last
weekend's
summary
executions in
neighborhoods
opposed to
Pierre
Nkurunziza's
third term
stand out. But
Burundi Army
spokesman
Gaspard
Baratuza was
quoted on
December 12
blaming all of
the deaths on
attempts to
steal weapons
to free
prisoners.
Inner City
Press had
heard that Mr.
Baratuza was
already in the
process of
being deployed
to the UN
Peacekeeping
mission in the
Central
African
Republic
(MINUSCA) even
when he was
giving these
quotes,
issuing
statements and
speaking to
state-owned
radio, and so
asked
MINUSCA's
acting
spokesperson,
“Is Gaspard
Baratuza of
Burundi's army
getting a
MINUSCA job?”
On
December 16,
hours before
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon held a
rare press
conference,
MINUSCA's
acting
spokesperson
sent this to
Inner City
Press:
"To:
Matthew.Lee
[at]
InnerCityPress.com
From: Vladimir
MONTEIRO [at]
UN.org
Date: Wed, Dec
16, 2015
Subject: ICP
question:
Gaspard
Baratuza of
Burundi's army
getting a
MINUSCA-related
post?
Cc: FUNCA [at]
funca.info
"No decision
related to Lt
Col Baratuza's
deployment can
be taken
before we
finish looking
into the
matter. We can
confirm that
Lt Col
Baratuza is in
Entebbe but he
has not yet
deployed to
MINUSCA.
Regards. VNM"
There are some
questions
about
Baratuza, a
Colonel in
Burundi's
Army, being
listed by the
UN as “Lt.
Col.”
Despite
multiple
follow-up
questions by
Inner City
Press, Mr.
Monteiro -
previously a
spokesperson
for the UN
electoral
mission in
Burundi -
replied that
“This is what
we can say
about this
issue.”
But the UN
should have to
say more.
Inner City
Press has
repeatedly
asked the UN
how its
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
under Herve
Ladsous vets
those who
deploy to UN
missions;
Inner City
Press exclusively
reported
on an October
1, 2015
meeting in
which Ladsous
told Burundi's
Vice President
Joseph Butare
that he is
“pragmatic” on
human rights.
Ban
Ki-moon and
his spokesman
declined to
take Inner
City Press'
questions on
December 16,
as they did on
December 14. Vine here. But concerned
members of the
UN Security
Council have
now been asked
about Baratuza
by Inner City
Press. Watch
this site. Follow @innercitypressFollow @FUNCA_info
, 
