UNITED
NATIONS, May
17 -- Is Herve
Ladsous as
head of the UN
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
defending or
even
representing
UN
peacekeepers?
Has Ban
Ki-moon given
over not only
UN
Peacekeeping
but
also the rest
of the UN's
credibility
and
communications
strategy to
Ladsous? Video
here.
When
peacekeepers
are attacked,
Ladsous
withholds
information,
including
about his own
knowledge of
who attacked
or kidnapped
them.
Ladsous
has
refused to
answer
questions
about the
death of
peacekeepers
in
Abyei and the
Congo, and
about his
knowledge of
the role of
Qatar and
self-declared
ambassadors
there in the
kidnapping of
UN
peacekeepers
in the Golan.
Then
when four more
peacekeepers
were taken
hostage on May
15, even this
information
was not simply
announced by
the UN, as
took place
under
Ladsous'
predecessors
Alain Le Roy
and Jean-Marie
Guehenno.
Ladsous,
either
from fear of
the press or
to try to
promote
himself, or
both, summoned
a
few friendly
scribes and
spoon-fed this
news to them. Nothing
about
his knowledge
of the role of
Qatar and
self-declared
ambassadors
there in the
kidnapping of
UN
peacekeepers
in the Golan.
Inner
City Press,
which closely
covers UN
Peacekeeping
including
these
Golan
kidnappings,
wrote to
Ladsous' three
- yes, three -
spokespeople
with a request
for the
information he
had so
strangely
spoon-fed to
scribes
and"for an
explanation of
how this
information
was
disseminated
on such a
limited basis,
including in
light of DPKO
spokesperson
Dwyer's
statements at
UN World Press
Freedom Day
event. On
deadline."
A
spokesperson
for Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon (who
simply
accepted
France's last
minute
replacement to
fill the UN
peacekeeping
post,
Ladsous)
referred the
question to
Ladsous' three
person team.
More
than three
hours after
that, a
Ladsous
spokesperson
-- his lead
spokesman
Dwyer says he
is traveling,
where is
unclear --
sent a
canned
statement, but
no
"explanation
of how this
information
was
disseminated
on such a
limited
basis." It was
requested
again, but was
not provided.
Rather
on Friday
morning --
long after
Ladsous'
strange
spoon-feeding
of
scribes, and
his
spokesperson's
hours-later
e-mail --
finally Ban's
UN
Spokesperson's
Office sent
out the exact
same paragraph
as a Note
to
Correspondents.
Is
this any way
for the UN to
distribute or
announce news?
Particularly
about the
kidnapping of
and threats to
peacekeepers?
Has Ban
Ki-moon
given over not
only UN
Peacekeeping
but also the
rest of the
UN's
credibility
and
communications
strategy to
Ladsous? Watch
this site.
, 
