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On Day
of
Peacekeepers,
Ladsous Covers
Up CAR Rapes,
Spares FDLR
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May
28 -- This
year's
“International
Day of the
Peacekeeper”
is different
than the
others since
the day was
established by
the UN General
Assembly in
2002.
UN
Peacekeeping
finds itself
being asked to
leave
countries, not
only Sudan but
also the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo; its
chief Herve
Ladsous had a
spat this
months with
the president
of Mali, and
berated
Malians for
not offering
enough thanks
not to the UN,
but to his
native France.
This is the
state of UN
Peacekeeping.
In the Central
African
Republic, the
UN didn't even
tell the
government of
Catherine
Samba-Panza
when it had
evidence of
the sexual
abuse of CAR
children by
French
peacekeepers.
UN staffer
Anders Kompass
leaked the
report -- and,
he says, was
urged to
resign by the
USG of DPKO --
that is,
Ladsous.
Inner
City Press has
asked Ladsous
about these
irregularities,
including the
cover up of
rapes in
Minova in the
DR Congo and
in Tabit in
Darfur, for
some time,
with Ladsous
strikingly
saying on
camera, “I do
not respond to
your
questions,
Mister.”
(Click
here for a
video
compilation;
here
if on
Periscope on
Twitter for
the most
recent, on
Mali, on the
Day of the
Peacekeeper.)
But on the CAR
rape story,
Ladsous turned
around with
three words: “I
deny that.”
Then he
reverted to
refusing to
answer
questions.
But what
is it, that
Ladous denies?
That he used
the word
“resign”?
The Office of
the High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights did not
dispute
Kompass'
statement that
Ladsous urged
him to resign
The UN System
has
acknowledged
it as true;
Ladsous,
perhaps
realizing too
late its
implications
for himself,
belatedly
denied it.
Ladsous
refused
an invitation
to Rwanda,
because their
diplomats
dared question
him. He blew
off a
UN-sponsored
Peacekeeping
conference in
Uruguay. A
journalist who
got him on
tape blowing
up was told to
not use it, or
have all
access cut
off. This
is Ladsous'
DPKO.
Earlier this
month as the UN's
Fifth (Budget)
Committee
tried to look
into the CAR
rapes and
Ladsous' role
-- Ladsous did
not show up --
an African
Permanent
Representative
sought out
Inner City
Press and
said, “Ladsous
should
resign.”
That is
what should
happen, on the
International
Day of UN
Peacekeepers.”
But will it?
Watch this
site.
* * *
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reports
are
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News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for Sept 26, 2011 New Yorker on Inner City
Press at UN
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