At
UN,
As Ladsous
Serves France,
AFP Asks
Deletion of
French Mission
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 21
-- When the UN
on September 2
named French
ministry of
foreign
affairs chief
of staff Herve
Ladsous
as
the
fourth
successive
Frenchman to
sit atop its
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations, it
was rushed and
no
one would say
when
Ladsous would
start.
As
complained
about by the
French Mission
to the UN,
Inner
City Press
reported that
the Mission
had not known
that the UN
would
name Ladsous
and not French
Ambassador to
India Jerome
Bonnafont, who
had bragged to
diplomats in
India that
he had the job
sewn up. Now
Bonnafont
will be
replacing
Ladsous as
chief of staff
to French
minister Alain
Juppe.
On
September 12,
Inner City
Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
when Ladsous
would come and
give a
briefing.
Nesirky
said
that while
Ladsous was
finally in New
York
preparing, he
wouldn't
begin until
late September
or early
October -- by
which time the
top
DPKO post will
have been
vacant for two
months, during scandals
of
sexual abuse
by
peacekeepers
in Haiti,
and inaction
in Sudan.
On
September 16,
Inner City
Press heard
from the new
acting chief
of public
affairs
for DPKO:
"I
wanted
to just update
you on the
situation of
Mr Herve
Lasdous, the
Under-Secretary-Designate
for
Peacekeeping.
Mr Lasdous
arrived at
headquarters
on Monday for
the week,
following the
recent
announcement
of his
appointment,
for a series
of
introductory
briefings
prior to
commencing his
duties upon
being sworn in
in early
October. As
you will
understand, Mr
Lasdous is not
undertaking
any
media
activities
until he has
been sworn in
and commenced
duties as
Under-Secretary-General."
Inner
City Press
responded
thanks, "can
you say the
last day of
Mr. Ladsous
working for
the French
government?"
The
response
was "I do not
know the
details of Mr
Ladsous's last
working day
with the
French
Government. I
do know that
he is not
being sworn
in,
and is
therefore not
starting in
his position
with the UN,
until
early October
(precise date
tbc). I really
can't add to
that."
On
September 19,
Inner City
Press again
tried to get
an answer from
UN spokesman
Nesirky:
Inner
City
Press: I have
tried this
through
DPKO...
he will be
sworn in in
early October.
So I asked
them, is he
still
working for
the French
department of
Foreign
Affairs? As
you know, he
was the Chief
of Staff to
Alain
Juppé.
When did his
employment
with
Foreign
Ministry of
France -- has
it ended, or
when did it
end?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well, that’s
not even a
question for
DPKO any more
than
it is a
question for
me. Why don’t
you ask the
French Foreign
Ministry?
Question:
You’ve named
him, I would
assume that if
the
Secretary-General
named him, he
would know
that, right?
Spokesperson:
Well, first of
all, we have
said, I have
said, I think
even sitting
here, if I am
not mistaken,
that the new
head of DPKO,
the new
Under-Secretary-General,
is designate
until sworn
in, and that
that
swearing in is
anticipated to
take place in
early October.
That’s
correct. As
for any
further
details on
what the
position is
right
now, I am sure
you could
check with the
French Foreign
Ministry.
That
day, Inner
City Press
went to a
press
availability
with Alain
Juppe, to ask
these
questions:
"Since
September
2, questions
have since
arisen about
Ladsous,
including...
his statements
in 2004
favoring the
ouster of
Aristides from
Haiti
and his role
as chief of
staff of your
immediately
predecessor
Michel
Aliot-Marie as
she flew
around on the
airplane of
Tunisian
dictator
Ben Ali. Why
choose a
person not
ready to begin
work, given
the current UN
peacekeeping
scandal in
Haiti and
crisis
in Sudan?
Factually,
when did or
will Ladsous
stop working
for the
French dep't
of foreign
affairs?"
But
these
questions were
not permitted
(the first
question went
to, what else,
French state
media). Inner
City Press was
not invited
to another
September 20
Juppe press
availability
on Libya, even
though Inner
City Press exclusively
obtained and
published, for
example, the
UN's Ian
Martin report
on Libya.
Nicolas
Sarkozy at UN
Sept 21,
Ladsous (and
use of AFP)
not shown
Since
September 2
Inner City
Press has
questioned and
reported about
Ladsous and
among
other things
his previous
positions on
Haiti
including
calling for
the ouster in
2004 of
elected
president
Aristide. This
reporting has
been and will
be despite
attempts to
make it more
difficult
raised by the
French Mission
and Agence
France Presse,
an
agency which
receives over
40% of its
funding from
"subscriptions"
by the French
government, a
subsidy now
under fire in
the EU.
When
on September
2 Inner City
Press reported
on what the
French Mission
had told
French media,
with the
Mission not
having known
that the UN
would
name Ladsous,
an AFP
correspondent
Pierre Antoine
Donnet quickly
contacted
Inner City
Press asking
in writing and
with no
request for
confidentiality
that
"all
reference
to the French
mission should
be deleted...
Please do
that.
It is causing
me big
trouble."
As
an
accommodation,
Inner City
Press modified
the story,
while telling
the
AFP
correspondent
that neither
he nor AFP
were the
source. Donnet
replied "Ok
thanks, bon
week-end."
But
when the UN
re-opened on
September 6,
the other AFP
correspondent
at the UN
Timothy
Witcher
without once
approaching
Inner City
Press went
straight to
the UN
Correspondents'
Association
executive
committee,
on which both
he and this
reporter
serve, and
made a
complaint,
asking for
unspecified
"action."
UNCA
President
Giampaolo
Pioli
scheduled a
meeting at a
time Inner
City Press
could not
attend, and
allow Witcher
to present his
complaint
without
rebuttal.
Two
days later,
after a
meeting in
which the
issue of Pioli
receiving
money
from the
Ambassador of
Sri
Lanka whose
request to
screen a
government
film denying
war crimes
Pioli granted
without
consulting
other
members of the
UNCA committee
came up, a
draft UNCA
executive
committee
statement was
circulated.
When Inner
City Press
opposed the
statement
as contrary to
freedom of the
press, AFP's
Witcher
threatened to
file
a complaint
with the UN's
Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit "or
some other
outside body."
Witcher
at the UN,
seeking action
against other
journlists'
articles not
shown
Inner
City Press
said, and
says, that AFP
in this case
is doing the
business of
the
French
Mission, whose
spokesman
after Inner
City Press published
leaked
documents from
the Mission
about Cote
d'Ivoire and
other
topics
said, "This is
a hostile
act."
Over
40%
of AFP's
funding come
from
"subscriptions"
from the
French
government,
a subsidy
being
investigated
by the EU.
AFP is
state-funded
media, and
seeks to use
the UN
Correspondents'
Association
against a
smaller media
which the
French Mission
declared
guilty of a
"hostile act"
of journalism.
Ultimately
on
the first
day of the UN
General Debate
September 21,
without
allowing Inner
City Press to
attach a
simple
dissent, UNCA
issued a
statement as
Tim Witcher of
AFP had
proposed,
tell
journalists
"not to use
private
conversations
between
members of the
UN press corps
as the basis
of news
reports, or to
confirm them,
without direct
consent."
Inner
City Press
has counter
proposed a
number of
other ethical
reminders,
including:
UNCA
reminds
UN
correspondents
that
disclosure of
possible
conflicts of
interest,
particularly
the receipt of
money whether
present or
past,
is proper when
making
decisions that
impact UNCA
and its
credibility.
UNCA
reminds
media
organizations
accredited at
the UN that
generally one
must be either
a journalist
covering the
UN, or a paid
employee of
the UN, but
not both.
This
last is a
reference to
AFP having
sent to cover
the Security
Council an
individual who
also works for
the UN
covering
meetings.
Ethics?
Meanwhile,
with
Ladsous for
some reason --
finishing
French
business, at
least
explicit
French
business --
not beginning
until early
October, there
will be time
for the review
of his record
that it
appears the
Ban
Ki-moon
administration
did not do.
This
includes
Ladsous' role
as
chief of staff
to Michele
Aliot-Marie,
who took gifts
from Tunisian
dictator Ben
Ali, as well
as various of
Ladsous'
speeches and
positions.
Will the
French Mission
or AFP, though
UNCA or some
other
way, be able
to stop this
review? We'll
see. And so it
goes at the
UN.