UN
Silent for
Week on Deaths
of UN
Peacekeepers
in Cote
d'Ivoire
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 4 --
What is wrong
with UN
Peacekeeping
and at least
some of its
Missions,
under Under
Secretary
General Herve
Ladsous?
On February 4,
following
African media
reports of two
separate
crashes in
Cote d'Ivoire
killing a
total of nine
peacekeepers
-- three
Moroccans back
on January 27
and six
Egyptians on
February 3 --
Inner City
Press asked UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric why
neither had
been announced
by the UN or
its Mission?
Dujarric said
he would
check. Inner
City Press
asked what is
the protocol,
to announce
the death of
UN
Peacekeepers?
Prior to
Ladsous, these
were
announced, and
more. Now
there is
silence, and
as noted
Ladsous
refuses Press
questions
about the
functioning of
UN
Peacekeeping.
Before the
February 4 UN
noon briefing
ended, two
separate times
Dujarric was
handed belated
ONUCI mission
statements:
first for the
February 6
death of six
Egyptian
peacekeepers,
then a week
late for the
January 27
death of the
three
Moroccans.
Inner City
Press asked
Dujarric,
what's the
dateline on
that? He said,
February 4. So
why did ONUCI
wait a full
week? Other
countries with
peacekeepers
in Cote
d'Ivoire
include
Brazil,
Cameroon,
Ecuador,
Ethiopia,
Ireland,
Jordan and of
course France,
including
through its
Force Licorne.
For the
Moroccans who
died a week
ago, we report
that they were
Officer Kamal
Tahiri,
Corporals El
Hachmi Khalad
and Abdalilah
El Baghzaoui.
We will have
more about the
Egyptians,
whose deaths
were announced
by a
spokesperson
for the
Egyptian Army.
What is wrong
with Ladsous'
DPKO?
Previously,
having found Ladsous unwilling to answer any
questions
and even
telling others
not to answer,
Inner City
Press wrote to
UN missions
asking them to
send
information.
Some have
begun to --
but like MINUSTAH
the mission in
Haiti, whose
role in
bringing
cholera to
Haiti Inner
City Press has
closely
reported on
but which
refuses to
send even
basic
information it
sends to
others to
Inner City
Press, ONUCI
did not send
these belated
statements.
We and
now the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
call this the
“Ladsousification”
of UN and its
DPKO. It and
Ladsous
ill-serve the
peacekeepers,
and peace.
Watch this
site.
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