On
Explosive
Abyei, Ladsous
Refuses to
Answer ICP
Question,
"He Should Go"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 27
-- Despite the
disputes
between Sudan
and South
Sudan, and the
unresolved
issue of Abyei
where a UN
Peacekeeping
(DPKO) mission
is based, on
Thursday at
the UN
Television
stakeout
DPKO chief
Herve Ladsous
refused to
answer a
simple Inner
City Press
question: "On
Abyei, what is
the UN's
role?"
Ladsous'
spokeswoman
told the UNTV
boom
microphone
operator not
to give the
mic to Inner
City Press,
and tried to
convince the
two other
correspondents
present to ask
questions. But
there were no
other
questions.
Ladsous walked
away from the
microphone. Video here.
Ladsous
is
hitting a new
low. Beginning
in late May,
after Inner
City Press
ran an
exclusive
article about
Ladsous'
proposal
behind closed
doors
that DPKO use
drones,
Ladsous had
refused to
answer any
Inner City
Press
questions, no
matter how
simple.
Inner
City Press
asked Ladsous
why his
Department
flew Congolese
military
officials to a
meeting to
recruit the
Mai Mai
militia to
fight
another group,
the M23.
Ladsous
refused to
answer.
But
on Sudan and
South Sudan,
on which the
member states
which pay
Ladsous'
tax-free
salary have
spent
billions,
after millions
of
people have
been killed,
Ladsous'
refusal to
answer the
basic
question --
"on Abyei,
what is the
UN's role?" --
is
particularly
troubling.
By
contrast, at
the very same
stakeout area
earlier on the
same day,
Inner City
Press
questions were
taken and
answered by
the foreign
ministers of
Jordan and
Italy, Australia
and the
Netherlands.
But Ladsous,
ostensibly an
international
public
servant, won't
answer.
After
Ladsous'
September 27
performance, a
number of UN
diplomats told
Inner City
Press this has
gone too far;
it was
suggested if
Ladsous
"can't handle
it," he leave
or have the
Department of
Field
Support, which
was split off
from DPKO,
actually
answer
questions.
Under
Ladsous,
missions like
MONUSCO in the
Congo don't
explain their
work
with militia;
in Sudan,
UNAMID doesn't
speak out
about deaths
of
civilians
unless asked.
A fish rots
from the head,
as the old saw
goes. And this
old saw, more
than one
diplomat has
said, should
go.
Watch this
site.
, 
