By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 27,
video
here --
When UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous
arrived at the
General
Assembly
stakeout to
try to do his
question and
answer on Mali
early as he
did on South
Sudan, without
the Press
present, it
didn't work.
Turkish
Cypriot leader
Dervis Eroglu
had booked the
stakeout, and
Inner City
Press was
there. As
Ladsous stood
at the
stakeout,
Inner City
Press filmed
as it did on
September 26
when Ladsous
refused to
answer basic
Press
questions
about his
missions in
Central
African
Republic and
Golan.
Ladsous
demanded, What
are you going
to do with
this? He and a
staffer tried
to block the
filming with
file folders.
Then he got UN
Media
Accreditation
to ask Inner
City Press to
put down the
camera and
stop filming.
But this is
the stakeout.
The Free
UN Coalition
for Access
defends the
rights to
cover the UN.
(The old UN
Correspondents
Association
has partnered
with Ladsous,
first along
with Agence
France Presse
and then
further.)
Ladsous and
one of his
"publicity"
staffers tried
to block the
filming with
file folders.
Video
here.
Finally
Ladsous walked
away with his
team including
the Reuters
correspondent
who has
himself
engaged in
censorship,
telling Google
to remove from
Search his
"for the
record"
complaint to
UN Media
Accreditation,
claiming
it is
copyrighted.
It is a
strange
position from
a media that
claims
exclusive
leaks.
After Ladsous
stormed off,
two of his
staffers
returned to
say that the
stakeout still
might happen.
But at 2:42
pm, an hour
and forty-two
minutes after
it was
supposed to
happen, the UN
said it was
canceled - but
not why.
Before UN
Peacekeeping
held its
September 26
meeting about
the Central
African
Republic,
Inner City
Press asked UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
Uganda
deciding not
to send its
troops as
peacekeepers
to the MINUSCA
mission, under
Herve Ladsous.
Dujarric
said
he would try
to get an
answer, but
none was sent
six hours
later. So when
Herve Ladsous,
the fourth
French chief
of UN
Peacekeeping
in a row, came
to the General
Assembly
stakeout past
6 pm on
September 26,
Inner City
Press several
times put the
question to
him: What
about the
Ugandans? Video here.
Ladsous
made
his opening
statement only
in French,
then ignored
the Press
question in
English about
Uganda pulling
out of his
peacekeeping
mission, at
the same time
that the
Philippines is
pulling out of
Ladsous'
mission in the
Golan Heights
after he
ordered their
troops to
surrender to
the Al Nursa
Front
extremist
group, which
still has
their UN
Peacekeeping
vehicles,
weapons and
uniforms.
Instead,
Ladsous
pointed at
Agence France
Presse, which
previously on
Ladsous'
behalf filed
complaints
against Inner
City Press, including
through UNCA,
now the UN's
Censorship
Alliance.
The first time
was when Inner
City Press
reported that
Ladsous
was by no
means the
first choice
to replace
Alain Le Roy
atop
peacekeeping,
but was
deposited into
the job after
the UN decided
that the first
choice, Jerome
Bonnafont, was
too flashy. So
they got
Ladsous.
Ladsous
on
September 26
proceeded to
brag about new
countries
coming into UN
Peacekeeping,
singling out
Sweden. Inner
City Press
once again
asked, what
about Uganda
pulling out of
the CAR
mission, and
added, what
about the
Filipinos
pulling out of
his mission in
the Golan? Video here.
Ladsous
as
has become his
practice - compilation here, UK
coverage here
- refused to
answer and
walked away
with two of
his aides.
They looked
back over
their
shoulders as
they went up
in the
elevator.
How
can a UN
official get
(over) paid
but answer no
critical
questions? How
can an
official under
whose watch
the Darfur
mission has
covered up
attacks on
civilians, and
who has
ordered at
least two
countries'
peacekeepers
to surrender
to terrorists,
keep his job?
The
questioning is
spreading and
one would
think would
come to a head
in the
upcoming
review of
peacekeeping,
which Inner
City Press has
heard and
reported will
be headed by
Louise Arbour.
The new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
asserts that
UN Under
Secretaries
General should
answer media
questions, and
there should
be
accounability.
We'll see.
, 
