UNITED
NATIONS, July
8 -- When the
MINUSMA
mission of the
UN in Mali was
being created,
Inner City
Press
repeatedly asked
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous about
the MNLA
rebels and
their
strong-hold
Kidal. Ladsous
refused to
answer, April
25 video here;
part
of video
compilation
here.
Now
despite an
agreement
reached in
Burkina Faso
-- credited to
Blaise
Campaore, with
little UN
involvement --
there's been a
shoot out
between the UN
in Kidal and
“armed
attackers.”
Inner
City Press on
July 8 put
questions both
to MINUSMA and
to Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
in New York. Video
here, from
Minute 21:50.
While
Mali's army
has been
quoted about
rock throwing
crowds,
Nesirky read
a statement
from MINUSMA
about a
shootout which
left one UN
staff
with a gunshot
wound to his
leg.
Online,
MINUSMA
on Sunday
Tweeted a link
to an article
about
biometric
cards
for the
election still
scheduled for
July 28. Once
clicked, the
article
was from the
French army's
Serval server,
and didn't
mention
any UN role in
the
distribution
of the cards
or in the
process.
So
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
interested in
the
responsiveness
of
UN agencies
and missions,
asked
through
its new @FUNCA_Questions
twitter
feed about
the UN role.
MINUSMA
to its credit
responded,
with
a link to a press
kit with a
photo of envoy
Bert Koenders
wearing
noise
suppressant
headphones on
a UN
helicopter.
The
response was
appreciated
between as
noted, Ladsous
refuses
questions,
his
four
spokespeople
have not
answered a
simple
questions
about the
DR Congo for
nine days,
and Koenders
is, well, like
Ladsous.
But
someone in
MINUSMA
understands
that the UN
should respond
to
inquiries.
Will Ladsous
and Koenders
try to shut it
(and other
Missions'
responses)
down?
Then
again, Ban on
Monday named
as one of
Koenders' two
deputies the
humanitarian
David Gressly,
noting he went
to school in
Arizona.
That's a bit
like Mali, at
least the
weather,
right? Watch
this site.
, 
