As
Ladsous
Refuses to
Answer ICP on
Haiti &
Sri Lanka, UN
Says
Unacceptable
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 29 -- When
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous was
asked Tuesday
by Inner City
Press to
respond to documented
charges that
his
Department
introduced
cholera into
Haiti, and
has Sri
Lanka alleged
war criminal
general
Shavendra
Silva as an
advisor,
he flatly
refused to
answer. Video
here, from
Minute 26:47.
Ladsous
told Inner
City Press,
"Well, Mister,
I will start
answering your
questions when
you stop
insulting me
and making
malicious and
insulting
insinuations."
Video
here, at
Minute 28:10.
The
insults and
"insinuations"
appear to
include Inner
City Press reporting
that Ladsous
proposed in a
closed door
C-34 session
that
the UN should
use drones
(this was
later confirmed),
and that he
was at
best Nicolas
Sarkozy's
second choice
for the
designated
French spot
atop UN
Peacekeeping,
after Jerome
Bonnafont
who after
Inner City
Press
published his
bragging in
India and
congratulation
cards was
replaced by
Ladsous.
But
Monday's was a
unique media
strategy for
the UN, some
say
reminiscent of
for example
North Korea:
if they think
the coverage
of them is too
critical,
they refuse to
answer any
questions.
And,
it seems,
seek to expel
the critical
journalist. On
the day
Ladsous so
publicly
refused to
answer Inner
City Press
questions on
Haiti and Sri
Lanka,
the UN
Correspondents'
Association
later had a
meeting
scheduled to
seek to expel
Inner City
Press.
One
of the
drivers behind
the push to
expel Inner
City Press is
Timothy
Witcher
of Agence
France Presse
who, at the
complaint of
the French
Mission
after Inner
City Press' reporting
showed it to
be so out of
touch
with Paris it
still though
Bonnafont was
the candidate,
began an UNCA
process
against Inner
City Press.
(Ladsous
happily
answered not
surprisingly a
softball
question from
Witcher on
Tuesday.)
Witcher
has more
recently been
joined by Louis Charbonneau of Reuters,
user without
credit of
Inner City
Press' March
28 exclusive
that US
official
Jeffrey
Feltman come
work at the UN.
(Foreign
Policy's The
Cable by
contrast did
credit
Inner City
Press.)
Charbonneau
filed a
complaint
against
Inner City
Press with the
UN's Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit,
copied to
Witcher and
UNCA President
Giampaolo
Pioli who has
insisted,
"Ladsous-like"
it might be
said, that
information
about his
relation with
Sri Lanka's UN
Ambassador
should not be
published,
even if put in
context.
After
Ladsous
refused to
answer the Sri
Lanka and
Haiti
questions,
Inner City
Press
followed up
and asked if
his colleague
Anthony
Banbury of the
Department of
Field Support
would answer.
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
cut in,
saying that it
is improper
to speak over
others.
After
Ladsous and
Banbury left,
Inner City
Press asked
Nesirky a
question about
Sudan
then if Ban
thought it
appropriate
that his Under
Secretary
General
for
Peacekeeping
would refuse
to answer
questions.
Nesirky called
it
"not
acceptable"
but refused to
explain what
he meant. Video
here from
Minute 48:53.
Inner
City Press
asked, is it
unacceptable
for a UN Under
Secretary
General, of
Peacekeeping
no less, to
refuse to
answer at all
on
accountability
for
peacekeepers
bringing
deadly cholera
to Haiti? Or
was Nesirky
and
Ban Ki-moon
saying that
critical press
coverage is
unacceptable?
Nesirky
refused to
answer.
Perhaps we
will find out.
Watch this
site.
, 
