Official
Story of
UNAMID Failure
Omits Call for
Ladsous'
Ouster
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 25, more
here --
Amid the cover
up of rapes in
DR Congo and
now in Darfur
by UN
Peacekeeping,
whose chief
Herve Ladsous
met with
Sudan's
International
Criminal Court
- indicted
president Omar
al Bashir
without ever
explaining
why, 123
non-governmental
organizations
and human
rights experts
and
activists have
called for
Ladsous to be
fired. Ladsous
video here,
Vine
here.
Therefore it
is amazing that
the "paper
of record" can
write about UN
Peacekeeping
in Darfur,
and even quote
Ladsous (who
had not even
tried to hold
any open UNHQ
Q&A since
September,
when he blocked
the Press' camera
and canceled)
-- without
mentioning this
or the letter
from the 123
NGOs and
experts asking
that Ladsous
by fired for
under-performance
in Darfur.
It
is reported:
“The
heart of the
matter for us
remains the
protection of
civilians
affected by
the conflict
and ensuring
that any
drawdown does
not have a
negative
impact on this
critical
task,” said
the United
Nations’ under
secretary
general for
peacekeeping,
Hervé Ladsous.
“My sense is
that while we
have by no
means been
perfect in
this regard,
without us
many, many
more would
have been
killed,
displaced, put
in harm’s
way.”
What about the
calls to fire
Ladsous?
Inner City
Press has
obtained the
letter and
published it.
At the UN's
December 22
noon briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric to
confirm
receiving and
then provide
responsive
comment on the
letter. Video
here,
including
sample Ladsous
"walk away" on
April 23, 2014
about his
cover up in
South Sudan.
This follows
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon taking
no questions
about Darfur
or Sudan
during his
December 17
press
conference (at
which, as
noted by the Free UN Coalition for Access, Ban seemed
to have the
content of
questions in
advance.)
Nor did Ban
answer Inner
City Press'
request for an
update at the
Darfur rapes
at the end of
his December
22 media
stake-out.
The letter is
copied to the
presidents /
prime
minister,
foreign
ministers and
UN ambassadors
of the US, UK
and France.
How will they
respond,
particularly
France which
installed
Ladsous atop
UN
Peacekeeping
after their
first
selection,
Jerome
Bonnafont, was
rejected at
the last
minute by the
UN? And how
might this new
outspokenness
of NGOs impact
attempts to
install Andrew
Lansley atop
the UN Office
for the
Coordination
of
Humanitarian
Affairs?
The letter
says, "The
result has
been a vastly
expensive and
discredited UN
mission, led
by Herve
Ladsous, who
consistently
and
deliberately
diminishes the
scale of the
conflict in
Darfur,
thereby
enabling
Khartoum’s
crimes to
flourish,
whilst the
international
community
congratulates
itself on
improved
circumstances
in Darfur."
The letter's
final
paragraph
begins, "At the
very least
Herve Ladsous
should not
continue his
role at the UN
DPKO."
On
December 4,
Inner City
Press asked
Ladsous, Why
did UNAMID not
say on
November 9
that it was
surrounded by
soldiers? Video here, and
embedded
below.
As is his
habit, Ladsous
did not answer
on December 4,
even with his
UN
Peacekeeping
under fire for
cover ups. It
is a pattern
with Ladsous.
He refused
Press
questions for
months about
rapes in
Eastern Congo
in Minova by
DRC Army units
his UN
Peacekeeping
supports: video compilation here; Vine
here.
On the morning
of December 4
Ladsous
claimed to the
Security
Council that
UNAMID's
findings were
"inconclusive"
due to army
presence. But
his UNAMID's
press release
whitewashed
the situation
in Tabit and
did not
mention the
army presence.
The
covering-up
continues,
with no
credibility,
as Ladsous did
on the Minova
raped by DR
Congo Army
units his UN
Peacekeeping
supports.
On
November 25, a
wide range of
groups in
Darfur
petitioned the
UN Security
Council about
UNAMID's
malfeasance.
Inner City
Press that
morning
obtained the
letter (h/t)
and put
it online in
full here,
Watch
this site.
, 
