On
CAR, Ladsous
Says Disturbed
By Allegations
of Rapes He
Linked to
R&R
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April
15 -- Speaking
about the
Central African
Republic on
Friday in the
UN Security
Council Herve
Ladsous, the
UN official
who linked the
rapes there to
"R&R,"
claimed that
he is "deeply
disturbed by
the continuing
allegations."
Given his
past, is
Ladsous
concerned
about the rapes,
or about the
public
allegations?
He was named
in a UN
Dispute Tribunal
ruling as
having ordered
the firing of
whistleblower
Anders
Kompass. While
he once curtly
denied it to
Inner City Press,
he made a
point of then
refusing any
questions from
Inner City
Press and is
named by many
people as one
of those
responsible for
the ouster and
eviction of
Inner City
Press from the
UN.
“Sadly,
these positive
developments
in the country
have again
been
overshadowed
by allegations
of misconduct
and sexual
exploitation
and abuse by
MINUSCA and
international
forces,”
Ladsous said
on Friday. “We
have engaged
with MINUSCA's
uniformed
personnel in
Bangui and New
York on the
issue and
requested
swift
investigations
and strict
punishment for
perpetrators.”
Really? As
Inner City
Press has asked
Ban Ki-moon's
spokespeople,
without them
even deigning
a response, Burundians
say that their
troops were
are
repatriated
from Central
African
Republic are
just sent out
for another
pay-day with
AMISOM in
Somalia.
How
low has the UN
fallen, in
terms of
corruption,
not stopping
rapes, and
retaliating
against the
Press that
asks the
questions? On
April 12 Inner
City Press
asked Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq
about an April
13 hearing in
the US House
of
Representatives
about impunity
for UN rapes.
Just as the UN
skipped court
hearings on
bringing
cholera to
Haiti, Haq's
answer did not
say that the
UN would
attend the
hearing. Video
here.
Inner
City Press
live-tweeted
the House
hearing on
April 13, in
which Aicha
Elbasri
described
Herve Ladsous'
cover up in
Darfur, and
former OIOS
auditor Peter
Gallo
described how
top UN
officials just
USE the OIOS
(as they have
to de-link Ban
Ki-moon from
the Ng Lap
Seng scandal).
Brett Schaefer
said there is
a need for US
training of
other
countries'
peacekeepers.
There's truth
in that, but
one of the DRC
Army units
implicated in
the mass rapes
in Minova was
US trained.
Chairman
Chris Smith
cited the UN's
"zero
tolerance,
zero
compliance
culture;" in
the Senate
there were
strong
argument for
reducing the
UN's funding.
On
April 14,
Inner City
Press asked UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric, video here, UN
transcript
here:
, 
