UN's
Ladsous
Refuses to Say
Who Broke
DRC Ceasefire,
His 1994
Filing Here
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 18 --
With the M23
mutineers at
the gates of
Goma
on Sunday, the
lack
of
transparency
and
accountability
on Saturday of
Herve Ladsous,
the fourth
Frenchman in a
row to head UN
Peacekeeping,
becomes more
noteworthy. We
highlight his
Saturday
stakeout, and
one
of his 1994
filings with
the Security
Council.
Saturday
when
Ladsous came
out of the UN
Security
Council
ostensibly to
answer
media
questions, he
had his deputy
spokesman
first whisper
to two UN
staffers.
Stakeout
spokesman photo
here.
It has been
confirmed to
Inner City
Press that the
order
was to not let
the boom
microphone
anywhere near
Inner City
Press. This is
not
the first time,
nor for Ladsous
to move for
censorship on
UN Television,
see here.
Nevertheless
once
Ladsous
finished his
prepared
statement,
which a UN
diplomat
later called
"pure
propaganda,"
Inner City
Press clearly
asked "Who
broke the
ceasefire?" Video
here, from
Minte
3:47 to 3:57.
Ladsous
refused to
answer, and it
took ten
second to
find someone
else to ask a
question.
In
fact, back on
November 10
the M23 said
that the
Congolese army
FARDC
has violated
the ceasefire
on November 9.
The question
now, which
Ladsous
refuses to
answer, is
what his
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations and
MONUSCO
mission knew,
and when they
knew it. Did
they
participate?
Once
Ladsous had
finished
filibustering
to the
question he
had selected,
Inner City
Press asked
another
question, this
time about his
MONUSCO
not protecting
civilians at
Pinga in North
Kivu, where
non M23 rebels
from the Mai
Mai attacked.
Video
here, from
Minute 5:26 to
5:34.
Ladsous
refused
this question
to, insisting
that he would
only take a
question "en
francais."
Significantly,
Ladsous
was France's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
at the UN in
1994 during
the Rwanda
genocide.
While there
are many
witnesses from
this period,
for now we
will link to a
report Ladsous
submitted on
August 4, 1994
to
the Security
Council at
this time, here,
UN
document
S/1994/933.
We'll have
more on this.
Is
this the right
person to head
UN
Peacekeeping
on the Congo
and M23 at
this time?
Watch this
site.
, 
