UN
Further Delays
Its Report on
Its
Cover Up of
Rapes in CAR,
Ladsous
Retaliation
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, November
6 --
The UN's
investigation
into its cover
up of rapes
including of
children in
the Central
African
Republic by
French troops,
including that
(French) head
of UN
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous
is listed as
trying to get
the
whistleblower
fired, has
been delayed
for a second
time.
First it was
delayed to
November. Then
on November 6,
UN Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric
announced it
will be pushed
back to the
third week of
December. This
is the UN.
Inner City
Press asked
Dujarric, video here, UN
transcript
here:
Inner
City Press:
given that
this CAR panel
is now delayed
for a second
time and it
seems like
it's a pretty
pressing
matter, rape
of children in
the Central
Africa
Republic, what
is the
rationale?
It seems like
it is just
kicking the
can down the
road.
Spokesman:
Well, I think
nobody would
argue with the
importance of
the focus on
the panel,
which looks at
how we handle
allegations of
non- UN forces
and regarding
child
abuse. I
think nobody's
questioning
that and
that's why the
Secretary-General
appointed the
panel.
It's
independent.
It is up to
the panel to
decide.
What they have
told us and
where they've
told the
Secretary-General
is that
relevant
material and
documentation
continue to be
submitted
after the
target date,
which was
earlier this
fall and
they've asked
for an
extension.
I think it's
not about
kicking the
can down the
proverbial
line.
It's about the
panel feeling
that they've
gone through
all the
information
that was
submitted to
them.
Inner
City
Press:
And if in
December they
are still
getting
information…?
Spokesman:
I can't speak
to them.
My sense is
that this...…
again, I get
in trouble
when I give
times.
My sense is
that we are
nearing the
end, but I
think it is a
credit to the
panel that
they are
asking for the
time to look
at all the
documentation
they received.
On
October 12, one
month after UN
Peacekeeping
chief
Herve Ladsous
linked peacekeepers'
rapes
in the Central
African
Republic to "distraction"
and R&R, here, Inner City
Press
asked Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka,
UN Women
Executive
Director, and
Ms. Radhika
Coomaraswamy,
former UN
official and
lead author of
a new Global
Study about
what Ladsous
said, sitting
where they
were, about
rapes and
R&R.”
Both said they
hadn't seen
Ladsous'
comments, so
Inner City
Press tweeted
the YouTube
link to
@phumzileunwomen
and @UN_Women
asking for their
comments, even
as they
answered.
After
Coomaraswamy
responded
generally
about linking
rape to
recreation,
Inner City
began to say,
Sent you the
link -- but
was cut off by
the UN Women
moderator, who
said “Let
others ask
questions.”
But there was
only one more
question.
Then, Inner
City Press
showed
Coomarswamy
the beginning
of Ladsous'
comments on a
laptop. But
the UN
Correspondents
Association
sidekick cut
in, “Excuse
ME,” to ask
yet another UN
official to
come to a $90
fundraiser.
This is the
same UNCA
which took
money from
South South
News then
both gave it
an award and
produced Ban
Ki-moon for a
photo op with
SSN's
controller,
the now jailed
David Ng. This
is UN, this is
the UN. But
what
will
Mlambo-Ngcuka
and Ms.
Radhika
Coomaraswamy
now do about
Ladsous'
comments?
As of
November 6...
nothing.
Three
days
after Inner
City Press
asked French
President
Francois
Hollande about
it, Ladsous
appeared for a
Q&A
stakeout about
CAR. Video
here.
After asking
CAR's foreign
minister about
refugees'
voting rights,
and getting an
answer as it
has throughout
the UN General
Assembly week,
Inner City
Press asked
Ladsous of an
update on the
rapes. He gave
none. In fact,
he had a
staffer
instruct the
UNTV boom
microphone
operator to
move the mic
to the other
side. As he
left, Inner
City Press
asked about
his R&R
comment, which
in many
countries
could get him
fire. Not at
the UN, at
least not yet.
After Ladsous
fled, Inner
City Press
asked CAR's
economy
minister if
there was any
legal
proceedings
against the
peacekeepers
accused of
rape. She said
yes, in CAR -
then
acknowledged
that her
government
does not even
have the names
of the
accused. What
kind of legal
procedure? The
kind where the
defendants
have no name.
Ironically,
Ladsous had
talked about
accountability
in his
stakeout - but
only for
Africans, it
seems, not the
French troops
of Sangaris.
He'll do a
stakeout on
another
Francophone
peacekeeping
mission, in
Mali, later on
October 1.
Watch this
site.
On
September
28, on
the day of the
UN
Peacekeeping
summit at the
UN, Inner City
Press managed
to ask French
President
Francois
Hollande about
alleged rapes
by French
troops in the
Central
African
Republic (CAR)
and about
French head of
UN
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous
having linked
rapes to
“recreation”
and R&R. Video here.
Hollande
replied that
when French
troops are
charged -- as
they have
been, in CAR
-- France
pushes for
prosecutions,
but also due
process. Does
that explain
the one-year
delay in the
Sangaris CAR
case?
The question
was not taken.
Later on
September 28,
Inner City
Press went to
cover the High
Level Meeting
on
Peacekeeping,
and found
Ladsous
slouched in
his hair,
wanly
applauding
pledges then
glaring up at
the
photographers
booth where
Inner City
Press was.
Something is
very wrong at
the top of UN
Peacekeeping -
until it is
addressed, the
various
commitments
ring hollow.
A year
after French
President
Francois
Hollande tried
to privatize
the UN Press
Briefing Room
by having
non-French
journalists
removed, his
team on
September 27,
2015 adopted a
different
strategy for
the same
result. At
8:40 am the UN
said there
would be a
press
conference by
Hollande in
just five
minutes, at
8:45 am. Call
it innovation.
Apparently in
his press
conference,
Hollande had
many of the
seats in the
front of the
UN Press
Briefing Room
“reserved” -
because Brazil
cited this as
a precedent
for their
11:30 am press
conference by
Dilma Rousseff
(that's
another
story).
France,
returning with
Hollande for a
session
scheduled for
2:15 pm, again
tried to
control spaces
in the front
rows, as did
the old UN
Correspondents
Association,
which ejected
a visiting
journalist
from “its”
seat.
And
the question
for Hollande?
For Inner City
Press, it
would be what
actions have
been taken on
the French
soldiers
alleged to
have raped
children in
the Central
African
Republic.
Watch this
site.
Update:
After Hollande
came in, two
people who had
sat next to
Inner City
Press through
the entire
Japanese
briefing from
1:30 pm got
up, to give
their seat to
Laurent Fabuis
and Royale.
Then a lady
approached
Inner City
Press, in full
view of UN
Spokesperson
Stephane
Dujarric, and
told Inner
City Press to
move, she's a
"minister."
Inner City
Press for the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access said
Non, je suis
journaliste,
je veux poser
ma question.
Meanwhile
Ban Ki-moon
said Peru's
President
Humala
regretted not
being present.
But he WAS
present, next
to Hollande.
Inner City
Press asked
Humala about
the Trans
Pacific
Partnership on
September 27:
watch this
site.
Back
on September
23, 2014 the
entourage of
French
President
Francois
Hollande
repeatedly
ordered the UN
accredited
Press to leave
the UN's
Press Briefing
Room.
A briefing by
Hollande had
been scheduled
for 11 am,
then was
canceled. But
at 10:55 am as
a previous
briefing about
climate change
was ending,
Inner City
Press was told
to leave the
room.
The question,
On whose
orders? was
not answered.
Instead a
woman in the
French
delegation
said the room
was
"reserved."
This is not a
restaurant,
Inner City
Press replied,
now on behalf
of the new Free UN Coalition for Access, which
advocates for
the rights of
journalists
and for a
Freedom of
Information
Act covering
the UN.
Another member
of the French
delegation
said loudly,
"They'll take
away his
accreditation."
It was not
necessarily an
idle threat:
the UN
Spokesperson
Stephane
Dujarric had
looked into
the room as
this happened.
Inner City
Press said, if
UN Media
Accreditation
-- or UN
Security --
tell me to
leave, I will.
But not
before. Video
here.
Meanwhile the
representative
of the old UN
Correspondents
Alliance
meekly left;
previously,
UNCA did
nothing when
previous
French
Permanent
Representative
Gerard
Araud in
this room told
a Lebanese
reporter, "You
are not a
journalist,
you are an
agent."
After a time,
the woman from
Hollande's
entourage said
that the chief
of UN Media
Accreditation,
whom she made
a point of
saying she
knows well,
was not
answering the
phone. A
French
security guard
told Inner
City Press to
leave. But
this is not
their role, in
the UN
briefing room.
Finally the
French foreign
minister
Laurent Fabius
and the new
Permanent
Representative
to the UN came
and sat in the
front room
with Inner
City Press and
FUNCA.
Hollande
appeared from
the doorway
Spokesman
Dujarric had
looked out of.
Hollande said
he had come
mostly about
climate
change, but
that a French
citizen had
been taken
hostage in
Algeria by a
group linked
with ISIL or
"Da'ech," as
he called the
group. He said
arms
deliveries
would
continue; he
noted the
previous
night's air
strikes, by
others, on
Syria.
Hollande said
he would meet
in the
afternoon with
the Syrian
Opposition
Coalition's
Hadi al Bahra,
who he called
the only
legitimate
leader of
Syria. Then he
left without
taking
questions.