After
UN's Ladsous
Links Rapes To
Lack of
"Recreation,"
Spox Refuses
Qs from ICP
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 11
-- When
peacekeepers
from France
allegedly
raped children
in the Central
African
Republic and
the UN learned
about it more
than a year
ago, the UN
and UNICEF did
nothing,
until French
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous asked
to fire the
whistleblower
Anders Kompass
in March of
this year, as
stated in two
UN Dispute
Tribunal
rulings.
On
September 11
Ladsous and
then his
spokesperson
refused to
answer Inner
City Press'
question about
this. Instead,
Ladsous blamed
the rapes in
CAR on the
soldiers' lack
of recreation
and comfort, video here and here.
It was
Senegalese
Babacar Gaye,
the head of
the CAR
mission, and
not overall
Peacekeeping
chief Ladsous
who was fired
by UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon; Inner
City Press
obtained and
put Gaye's
letter online
here (credited
here and here) citing
systemic
problems.
Before
Ladsous'
carefully
controlled
four day visit
to the country
- no questions
on the
peacekeeper
rapes,
colonial
photographs
sent out - UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric told
Inner City
Press, which
asked, that
Ladsous would
take questions
when he
returned,
including
about
peacekeepers'
sexual abuse.
But when
Ladsous appeared
at the
September 11
UN noon
briefing, UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric for
the second
time did not
allow Inner
City Press to
ask Ladsous a
single
question.
Dujarric gave
the first
question to
the UN
Correspondents
Association,
which after a
perfunctory
questions
about the
number of
sexual abuse
cases said its
“real”
question was
if Ladsous
will meet
Obama. (Yes,
apparently,
and
inappropriately,
see below). Video here.
Inner
City Press
prepared to
ask Ladsous an
obvious
question: what
is his
response to
appearing in
at least two
UN Dispute
Tribunal
rulings as
having tried
to get the
whistleblower
Kompass fired?
But Dujarric
gave the
second
question to a
Reuters
reporter
who has
previously
channeled
Ladsous (here
in the hall)
then to Agence
France Presse,
whose UN
reporter in
2011 asked
UNCA's board
to act on
Inner City
Press'
reporting on
Ladsous.
Both
Reuters and
AFP later on
September 11
published
stories which
quoted Ladsous
but not what
he said
linking the
rapes to lack
of
distractions.
Instead, they
uses anonymous
quotes given
to them by a
Ladsous
spokesperson.
The Ladsous
spokesperson shown here said, "I am not the
man for that,"
and refused to
answer Inner
City Press on
Ladsous' role
in trying to
fire Kompass,
video
here.
Even with the
questions
allowed,
Ladsous'
answers should
get him fired.
First,
speaking of
sexual abuse,
he said he
didn't want to
“deflower” the
issue. Then
explaining the
peacekeepers'
rapes he said
that a
solution would
be to get them
more
“recreation”
(translating
back and forth
with Dujarric,
Ladsous began
to say “R and
R”).
Ladsous
was asked,
what do you
mean? He said
that Asian
countries are
good at this.
We'll have
more, but on
top of his
role in
covering up
rapes in DR
Congo, Darfur
and now CAR,
this should
get Ladsous
fired. More here.
, 
