UNITED
NATIONS,
July 14 – When
Brazilian
general Carlos
Dos Santos
Cruz,
previously
in charge of
shooting at
civilians in
Cite Soleil in
Haiti, was
sent to
Eastern Congo
by UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
and UN
Peacekeeping's
Herve Ladsous,
Inner City
Press predicted
the
same would
happen.
And
now, already,
it has. Even
according to
its own Radio
Okapi, the
MONUSCO
mission
stands accused
of shooting at
civilians.
Will there be
an
investigation?
Seems not.
Okapi quotes,
approvingly it
seems, Dos
Santos Cruz
that any
civilians with
a gun will be
treated like a
combatant.
These
type of
cowboy rules
of engagement,
combined with
the slightest
misperception,
lead to
shootings like
in Florida, or
Amadou Diallo
in
The Bronx long
before it. Is
this the UN?
Ban
on Sunday is
in Paris with
Ladsous, the
fourth
Frenchman in a
row to head UN
Peacekeeping,
taking in the
colonial
Bastille Day
parade. Even
in
French Google,
Ladsous has
not appeared
like July 5 –
that is, he
has had
nothing to
say, in any
language,
about the
killing in
Darfur
of seven UN
peacekeepers
from Tanzania.
Ladsous'
new
cowboy – Lucky
Luke? -- rules
of engagement
are blamed by
some well
placed in UN
Peacekeeping
as being
dangerous to
those in the
field.
But
Ladsous
refuses Press
questions
about them, video compilation
here. Where
are his
friendly
scribes, to
transcribe and
transmit his
spin on Darfur
without asking
any real
questions?
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
After
his flight to
Paris, Ban
Ki-moon's
first readout
was with a
president, of
Croatia,
mentioning the
Peacebuilding
Commission.
Looking back
at a photo of
Sarkozy's 2008
Bastille Day
reviewing
stand, with
Mubarak on it,
one wonders
who there
today will be
gone
next year....
, 
