On
Mali, Ladsous
Blathers of
Justice As
Runs 2-Tier
Peacekeeping,
CAR Cover Up
By Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 11 --
When the UN
Security
Council heard
about Mali on
January 11 it
was not from
the new UN
Envoy to the
country, but
rather first
from UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous, who
has overseen
two-tier
peacekeeping
in the country
and bears
responsibility
for rapes in
Central
African
Republic.
Ladsous'
depiction in
the UN's own
report on
rapes in CAR
stands in
contrast with
his invocation
on January 11
of Mali's
Truth, Justice
and
Reconciliation
Commission.
That came in
this
paragraph:
"The fact that
the monitoring
bodies are
functional did
not fully
translate into
tangible
progress
toward the
implementation
of the
agreement over
the reporting
period, and
the process
has continued
to encounter
important
delays over
the past few
months. While
progress was
made with the
validation of
11 cantonment
sites and the
launch of the
construction
work for two
of them,
earlier this
month, and
with the
adoption on
the decrees
establishing
the
Integration
Commission and
the Commission
on DDR on
December 29,
it is
regrettable
that only one
mixed patrol
was conducted
to date, on
November 14.
Meanwhile,
although the
installation
of the Truth,
Justice and
Reconciliation
Commission
constituted a
positive step,
we remain
concerned that
other
political and
institutional
reforms that
underpin the
peace
agreement are
yet to be
implemented...
“These delays,
if not
addressed in
earnest, bear
the potential
to unravel the
hard-won
confidence
built so far
between the
signatory
parties, as
illustrated by
the concerns
expressed by
the
Coordination
and the
Platform in
the last
session of the
CSA on
December 17
and 18. We
welcome in
that context
the
consultative
meeting of the
members of the
CSA convened
at ministerial
level in
Algiers, on
January 18,
and hope that
it will
contribute to
address the
above concerns
and set new
timelines for
implementing
outstanding
reforms."
It's
fine material,
but the
official
delivering it
is
discredited,
including in
Mali.
In Mali, where
many UN
peacekeepers
nearly all of
them from
Africa have
been killed,
the Dutch
battalion has
communications
equipment that
only
contingents
from NATO
member
countries can
use, Inner
City Press has
been
exclusively
informed.
While
the reasoning
may be to
prevent
copying of the
technology by
others, the
result leaves
non-NATO
troops at
increased
risk.
Belatedly,
there is an
attempt to
procure
alternative,
non-NATO
limited
technology.
But this
two-tier
system, which
some even call
in context
racist, has
been allowed
by UN
Peacekeeping
under its boss
Herve Ladsous.
Two
week ago,
Inner City
Press asked
Ladsous, who
usually
refuses to
answer all
Press
questions,
about the
two-tier
nature of UN
peacekeeping.
On December 2
after a
screening of a
film about UN
Peacekeeping,
“Last Station
Before Hell,”
which
portrayed
missions in
Lebanon, DR
Congo and
Central
African
Republic,
Inner City
Press asked
Ladsous why
French and
other European
troops like
the Dutch
serve
alongside but
not with UN
peacekeepers,
in Mali
(including
Germans and
Slovakians now
replacing
French), Cote
d'Ivoire and
CAR. The
second was for
an update on
the rape
allegations
against French
and UN
peacekeepers
in CAR. Video
here and
embedded
below.
Ladsous, who
has repeatedly
outright
refused to
answer Inner
City Press
questions in
the UN, did
respond to the
first
question,
denying there
is a two-tier
system and
describing
what some view
as a vestige
of
colonialism:
he listed the
UK having a
special
interest in
Sierra Leon,
like France
has in Mali,
and a desire
to serve under
its own
command.
Ladsous
pointedly did
NOT answer the
request for
any update on
the sexual
abuse
allegations
against
Sangaris and
MINUSCA,
something
pointed out
afterward by a
number of
those in
attendance at
the
International
Peace
Institute.
One
also noted
this: while
Ladsous
trumpeted a
number of
female SRSGs
in UN
Peacekeeping,
only that day
one of them,
Ellen Loj, was
confined to
speaking
behind closed
doors after
Ladsous'
public speech,
and then
followed his
pattern of no
comments to
the media
afterward, a
come-down from
her
predecessor
Hilde Johnson
and even her
own previous
appearances.
(Johnson,
sources say,
pursued the
Somalia SRSG
post that was
given to
Michael
Keating.)
One of
Ladsous two
fellow
panelists at
IPI, Lise
Morjé Howard,
an Associate
Professor of
Government,
Georgetown
University,
answered Inner
City Press
that the
French troops
are not really
peacekeepers
but more akin
to
counter-insurgency
forces.
Ladsous called
France “the
country I know
best.” He is
listed in UN
Dispute
Tribunal
documents as
having tried
to fire, then
to retaliate
against, the
whistleblower
who revealed
the
allegations of
child rape by
French
soldiers in
CAR.
There's talk,
even about the
P5, of Ladsous
being a
liability who
shouldn't
remain even
during Ban
Ki-moon's
remaining
time. His
non-answer on
sexual abuse
on December 2
is
particularly
noteworthy
given his
Septembr 11
on-camera
linking of the
CAR rapes to
“R&R,”
video here.
We'll continue
on this. Follow @innercitypressFollow @FUNCA_info
, 
