Alleged
Rapists
Return to
Chad, ICP Learns,
Mali
Re-Hatting
Mis-Run by
Ladsous
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 27
-- As chief of
UN
Peacekeeping,
Herve Ladsous
refuses to
answer Press
questions. But
now his whole
Department is
either not
communicating,
or offers
explanations
like "patrols
of the M23 and
the FARDC ran
into each
other." That's
just a way
to not say who
attacked whom.
Ladsous
decided,
against the
advice of
many, to
re-hat Chad's
soldiers in
Mali into the
UN Mission
there,
MINUSMA,
despite Chad
being on the
UN
list of child
soldier
recruiters.
Now at least
four Chadian
soldiers, of
the 160 who
left their
posts in
northern Mali,
are
accused of
gang rape in
Gao.
Inner
City Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky about
it on
Thursday; he
confirmed the
accused are
Chadians
but would not
saw where they
are now.
On
Friday
morning, a UN
senior
official told
Inner City
Press that
Chad
had already
taken the
alleged
rapists out of
Mali. Will
they be held
accountable,
or just
hidden?
It
turns about
the the
"re-hatting"
under Ladsous
was badly
run, and that
the 160
Chadian
soldiers had
not been paid.
It's no
excuse - but
it does
provide more
evidence of
DPKO under
Ladsous.
From
Thursday's UN
transcript:
Inner
City
Press: there
is now a
report that
this sexual
abuse incident
in
Mali is
attributed to
the Chadian
component. And
people are
linking
it to in fact
that same kind
of unit of 160
that left
Tessalit, came
to Gao and had
no place to
stay and were
driving around
in 40
vehicles. So I
just wanted to
know, one, is
there any
update [and]
can you either
confirm or
deny this idea
that the… the…
the
allegation is
that it was
rape by four
Chadian
soldiers? And
two, is
there any
connection
between that
and them
having left
their post and
where are they
now; where are
these 160
Chadian
soldiers?
Spokesperson:
Well, I will
have to come
back to you on
the last bit
of your
question. On
the first
aspect, I can
confirm that
the
allegations
have been
levelled
against
Chadian
soldiers, and
the
troop-contributing
country, in
other words
Chad, has of
course been
notified. And
as I have said
before, the
country, the
troop-contributing
country has
primary
responsibility
for
investigating
the matter and
ensuring that
appropriate
disciplinary
and judicial
measures are
taken should
the
allegations be
well
founded. And
the UN Mission
in Mali,
MINUSMA, will
offer all
necessary
support to the
troop-contributing
country to
ensure that it
is able to
fulfil its
responsibilities
in this
regard.
Inner
City
Press: When
they were
incorporated
into MINUSMA
there were
questions
raised because
they are on
the UN’s child
soldier
recruitment
list that
maybe this was
problematic
and the
various
benchmarks
were set on
the child
soldier issue
for them to
meet and
it was said if
they don’t
meet them they
will be out of
the
Mission.
Having these
two problems
both at once,
is there some
review of
whether, you
know, maybe it
is not the
right time to
have
Chad serving
in that
Mission?
Spokesperson:
Well, there is
clearly an
investigation
under way into
this specific
allegation,
which is a
serious
allegation and
which we take
very
seriously. And
as I said on
Monday, as
soon as that
allegation
surfaced, the
Mission did
spring into
action. And as
I have said,
the country
has been
notified and
obviously has
the primary
responsibility
to
investigate.
The broader
question that
you have
raised, I
would need to
come back to
you on that.
Inner
City
Press: And
just one last
thing on this,
sorry, I know
that the
Secretary-General
met with
President Deby
last night; I
just wondered
if maybe you
can say, I’ve
read the
readout; it
doesn’t seem
to
get to this
level of
detail, but
can you say
whether the
child
soldier issue
or this more
recent sexual
abuse issue
came up in
that
meeting?
Spokesperson:
Well, the
question of
these
allegations
relating to
Chadian
soldiers, the
allegations
that have
become
apparent this
week, they
were indeed
raised by UN
officials with
the Chadian
delegation
that
has been in
New York this
week. Yes,
Pamela, last
question?
But
from Inner
City Press,
this will not
be the last
question on
this.
Watch this
site.
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