After
Fall of Sake,
Meece Spin
Ignores Who
Broke
Ceasefire, Q
Ladsous
Refused
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 21 --
After UN
Peacekeeping
under Herve
Ladsous
stood by as
the M23
mutineers took
another town,
Sake, the head
of
his Congo
mission Roger
Meece briefed
the Security
Council by
video
on Wednesday
morning.
Meece
hardly
mentioned,
much less
defended, what
some see as a
total
failure of the
UN in Goma
under him and
Ladsous.
Rather, he
denounced
the M23,
including as
too
sophisticated.
As an
afterthought,
he
mentioned that
two non M23
groups, the
FDLR and a Mai
Mai faction,
had fought and
killed 260
people.
Meece
offered thanks
to Leila
Zerrougui, his
previously
deputy. NGOs
have
told Inner
City Press
that Meece
"used
Zerrougui" to
defend
and obfuscate
his and
MONUSCO's
inaction
during the
mass rapes in
Walikale. She
is now the
UN's envoy on
Children and
Armed
Conflict;
with the Meece
machine left
behind,
perhaps things
will go
better.
But
what of UN
Peacekeeping?
Ladsous has
refused to
answer or even
respond to
basic Press
questions,
such as "who
broke the
ceasefire"
between M23
and the
Congolese
army. Ladsous
directed
one spokesman
to tell UN
staff to keep
the microphone
away from
Inner
City Press on
November 17.
On
November 18, another
of Ladsous'
spokesmen, now
present on
Wednesday,
answered in
writing that
asking who
broke the
ceasefire is a
"distraction."
No, it is a
factual
question which
MONUSCO given
the money it
spends
should be able
and required
to answer.
Ironically,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey on
November 20
said that
while MONUSCO
did not fire a
shot as M23
took
over Goma, now
they are there
for "recording
keeping." If
MONUSCO under
Meece and
Ladsous won't
even keep and
disclose
records
on who broke
the ceasefire,
what kind of
record-keeping
is this?
This type of
failure is
what happens
when the UN
gives a
department of
over 100,000
troops to a
country's
designee who
can't or won't
answer the
most basic
questions.
It
was indicated,
to some, that
Ladsous will
take some
questions
later
on Wednesday.
We have
questions.
Watch this
site.
, 
