From
Sudan to
Cholera to War
Crimes, UN's
Ladsous
Refuses
Questions
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 22 --
Herve
Ladsous as
head of the UN
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations has
hidden behind
many excuses,
and then
refused to
answer or even
take questions
about them.
This continued
Monday, when
he refused to
take two Inner
City Press
questions
about Sudan.
But it is
pervasive and,
it would seem,
disqualifying.
Ladsous
could
or would not
explain why UN
peacekeepers
are IN
Southern
Kordofan in
Sudan but
under his
command have
committed to
committing no
acts of
peacekeeping,
even reporting
on killings of
which they
become aware.
He would not
answer about
the killing of
UNAMID
Peacekeepers
in Darfur,
with anti-tank
weapons --
after he had
opined things
are getting
better in
Darfur --
saying he
would only
answer if he
is not
insulted. So
he wanted to force
positive
coverage in
this way?
In Cote
d'Ivoire
Ladsous
peacekeepers
were directly
accused of
standing by
and even
assisting as
internally
displaced
people
presumed to
support former
leader Laurent
Gbagbo were
killed and
their IDP camp
burned down.
An investigation
was promised,
by ONUCI chief
Bert Koenders,
but has never
been released.
Before the
investigation,
Koender
announced that
nothing had
happened.
In the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo,
when Inner
City Press
asked about
reports that
MONUC rocket
fire from
gunship
helicopters
had killed
civilians,
Ladsou's DPKO
first
stonewalled
then issued a
statement,
through
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
Office of the
Spokesman,
that the
terrain was
such that DPKO
could not
check on the
effect of its
fire. Is this
responsible?
In
terms of
responsibility,
amid detailed
reports and
legal claims
that DPKO
brought
cholera to
Haiti, the UN
has refused to
respond to the
claim.
This is blamed
on the UN
Office of
Legal Affairs
under Patricia
O'Brien.
But since
diplomats
admit that it
further hurts
the
credibility of
DPKO, wouldn't
a leader or
even
administrator
of such a
Department
makes sure an
answer was
given? But
this is not
Ladsous.
THIS is
Ladsous: he's
said the
recanting of
Panel of
Experts member
Doctor Daniele
Lantagne will
be referred
back to the
"Group of
Experts." It
remains
unclear if he
knows she was
a member, or
if the Panel
has disbanded.
In
terms of
insulting what
UN
Peacekeeping
is supposed to
be about, why
is a Senior
Advisor of
Peacekeeping
Operations a
brigadier
general whose
division is
depicted, even
in the UN's
own report, as
engaged in
shelling
hospitals and
killing
civilians?
DPKO's Ladsous
won't even
address the
question; Ban
has blamed it
on member
states.
That
the largest
troops
contributing
countries are
being shorted
by the UN to
the tune of
$512 million
is blamed on
member states,
or left by
DPKO for
another
Department,
that of
Management, to
answer. At
least the head
of DM takes
the question.
Ladsous
was
foisted on the
UN by Nicholas
Sarkozy of
France as a
last minute
replacement
for Jerome
Bonnafont.
Inner City
Press
exclusively
reported then,
then faced
push-back.
Finally
and relatedly
in May 2012
Ladsous began
refusing
to answer
any Inner City
Press
questions, in
press
conferences
like Monday's,
a stakeouts
where no other
journalists
attended or
asked
questions, for
example on
Abyei during
the UN's
General Debate
week.
(Afterward
his DPKO called
UN Television
to ask that
even the
question be
erased from
the web-cast
of the
stakeout.)
Alain
Le Roy and
Jean-Marie
Guehenno
before him use
to routinely
asked Press
questions as
they left the
Security
Council.
Ladsous does
not, even as
peacekeepers
are killed and
attacked. They
have no voice,
the complaint
is growing.
Beyond
refusing
to answer
Press
questions,
Ladsous had
directed his
spokespeople
to try to
censor
coverage. When
Inner City
Press reported
-- based on
open
statements by
Security
Council
diplomats --
that he and
others were
going to
Syria, DPKO's
spokesman
Kieran Dwyer
wrote to
demand that
Ladsous' name
be removed.
Later at a
higher level
the Department
of Safety and
Security
determined
that DPKO's
complaint was
frivolous.
There have
been other,
related
attempts to
use DSS, and
OLA.
Le Roy
would come to
press
conference
with his
Department of
Field Support
colleague
Susana
Malcorra and
they would
take
questions.
Ladsous rarely
comes. Last
time, with DFS
deputy Tony
Banbury,
Ladsous
refused to
answer Press
questions on
cholera in
Haiti and the
Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations.
What of
Banbury?
This
time,
Banbury's boss
at DFS Amira
Haq did not
accompany
Ladsous. On
the stage,
where heads of
state and
other UN
department
heads have
answered Press
questions,
Ladsous
refused. No
one does
anything: this
is Ban
Ki-moon's UN;
this is a UN
in further
decline, and
Ladsous is its
face and
symptom. Watch
this site.
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