As
Chirac Slams
UN in DRC,
Ladsous Cited
by AFP But
Not Held to
Account
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 25 --
When
former French
president Jacques
Chiraq was
presented on
Christmas Day
in Le
Monde and
Agence
France-Presse
as deeply
concerned
about the
Congolese,
Inner City
Press returned
to Chiraq's
memoir "My
Life in
Politics,"
recently
published in
English
(though hardly
reviewed
anywhere).
Nowhere
in
the memoir's
six page index
is there any
mention of the
Congo. The
longest
reference to
Africa
concerns the
Bokassa and
the Central
African
Republic,
which France
left in the
terrible shape
it finds
itself today.
So
when Chirac
could have
done something
for the Congo,
he did
nothing.
Now long out
of the
limelight,
promoting a
book, he
reappears as
an
opportunist.
calling on the
UN
Peacekeeping
mission
MONUSCO to do
more.
Signing with
him are, among
others,
Francophony
minister
Yamina
Benguigui,
Rosario
Dawson,
Muhammad Ali,
Eve Ensler,
Jonathan
Demme,
Angelique
Kidjo and
Valerie
Trierweiler
of the
Danielle
Mitterrand
Foundation.
AFP's
Christmas
story,
emphasizing
Chirac's call
for the UN to
fulfill its
mandate, adds
a quote from
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous
last
week that
MONUSCO is on
alert and
reinforcements
would be sent
if
necessary.
The AFP story
does not note
that Ladsous
served on one
of
AFP's boards;
click here
for a recent
French-language
profile of
Ladsous.
But
at the UN last
week, as
the weeks
before, Ladsous
refused to
answer
Press
questions
about the
Congo,
specifically
about 126
rapes in
Minova by the
Congolese army
which Ladsous'
DPKO supports.
Click here
for
Ladsous'
December 18
"seize the
microphone"
video;
click here
for his
November 27
"hallway
service" video,
including
Ladsous
retreating to
the hallway to
brief a
reporter from
AFP
and
two others
whom he has
collaborated
with.
Despite
the
belated
grandstanding,
some feel, if
France really
wanted to do
something for
the Congolese
people it
would replace
Ladsous as
head
of UN
Peacekeeping.
Not only does
he refuse
Press
questions - in
the
past week
there have
been two
separate
killings of
four
peacekeepers
each time, and
Ladsous has
not come
forward.
His
predecessor
Alain Le Roy,
also French,
would
invariable
come and
speak after
such
incidents. Ou
est Herve
Ladsous?
And where should
he
be? Watch this
site.
, 
