By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 10 --
While the UN
is supposed to
be about
transparency
and work for
the public
good, UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous, the
fourth
Frenchman in a
row in the
position, has
repeatedly
refused to
answer Inner
City Press
questions
about Haiti,
Sudan, Somalia
and the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo. Video compilation here.
What's behind
this?
It's a
story that can
also be told
in tweets.
Before as
exposed by
Inner City
Press he
became a last
minute
replacement
for Jereome
Bonnafont,
France's first
pick to
succeed Alain
Le Roy,
Ladsous' name
had only
rarely
appeared on
Twitter.
The
earliest was
on March
26, 2009 on
the French
site and feed
@ExPatLive.com,
linking to a
video now
disappeared
from the
Internet.
Ladsous had
previously
been France's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
to the UN,
during the
1994 Rwanda
genocide when
he argued for
the escape of
genocidaires
into Easter
Congo. More on
that as this
series
progresses:
the belated
recognition of
Ladsous' role
and conflict
of interest
have become
more prominent
in online
mentions of
him.
On November
29, 2010 the
feed
@EurActivFR
noted Ladsous
had taken over
as the chief
of staff for
soon to be
disgraced
French foreign
minister
Michèle
Alliot-Marie.
In that
capacity, and
before
Alliot-Marie
had to resign
for taking
flights on
aircraft of
cronies of
Tunisian
dictator Ben
Ali, Ladsous
was said to
dress down
Syrian
Ambassador
Lamia
Chakkour,
according to
the feed
@RatTatTata.
The
irony or
hypocrisy of
this, while
Ladsous was
arranging
flights for
Alliot-Marie
on Air Ben
Ali, was later
noted by Inner
City Press --
Ladsous began
to refuse to
answer.
The
first flurry
of tweeting
about Ladsous
was on
September 2,
2011 when the
UN named him
as head of
peacekeeping.
The first
choice
Bonnafont had
already
started
receiving
congratulation
cards at UN
Headquarters,
as put online
by Inner City
Press.
But
Bonnafont's
bragging in
India, where
he was
France's
Ambassador,
about getting
the post led
to him losing
it. And
Ladsous,
already twice
rejected when
Jean-Marie
Guehenno and
then Alain Le
Roy were
selected, was
pushed in by
Sarkozy.
Even
that morning,
the French
mission was
saying it
would be
Bonnafont.
When Inner
City Press
exposed this,
Agence
France Presse
made a
complaint
to the UN
Correspondents
Association,
on whose
Executive
Committee
Inner City
Press then
sat.
This bogus
complaint led
to a lengthy
kangaroo court
process, to
Inner City
Press quitting
UNCA and
co-founding
the new Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
@FUNCA_info.
But it's worth
noting:
Ladsous had
previously
served on a
management
board of AFP.
From
the first day,
there were
questions that
went
unanswered.
What WAS
Ladsous'
role in Haiti
when Aristide
was deposed?
This
unanswered
question,
tweeted by
Inner City
Press,
continues to reverberate.
When Ladsous
held his first
press
conference on
October 13,
2011,
Inner City
Press asked
him about
Haiti, Air Ben
Ali and most
of all Rwanda,
what he did
and said
during the
genocide.
This
is when
Ladsous began
to refuse to
answer or even
take Inner
City Press'
questions --
he would make
this policy
formal in May
2012, just
after UNCA
began its
kangaroo court
proceeding
against Inner
City Press.
That's why
they call it
the UN
Censorship
Alliance.
But
2011 ended
with Ladsous
avoiding and
canceling
question and
answer
stakeouts of
the type
Guehenno and
Le Roy
routinely did.
Ladsous
refused
to say if
Sudan flew
militias from
Darfur to Blue
Nile state
(later in a
study), whether
Jau is in
Sudan or South
Sudan, and
was dismissive
even then of
the claims
of those
killed by UN
Peacekeeping
bringing
cholera to
Haiti.
Things would
only get
worse: this is
Part I. Watch
this site.
, 
