UN's
Ladsous
Now Spins in
Syria, After
DPKO Demanded
ICP Censor His
Name
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 19 -- Two
days after the
UN
demanded the
censorship
of
a Press story
reporting that
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
boss Herve
Ladsous would
travel to
Syria, Ladsous
appeared
on TV at the
DamaRose
Hotel,
pontificating
about his
failing
Observer
mission.
He
spoke after a
car bomb in
Deir Al Zor
killed at
least seven,
and UN
Observers
arrived late
and
"impotent."
Ladsous
bland
remarks were
reported only
by Syrian and
Cuban state
media.
Desperate
to keep the
position he
left the fated
Sarkozy
administration
for,
Ladsous has
taken to
praising
himself to
anyone who
will
listening,
while refusing
to answer
press
questions.
Inner
City Press
on May 16 quoted its
diplomatic
sources that
Ladsous "plus
three" had
told Syria
they would
come. The
next morning,
DPKO
spokesman
Kieran Dwyer
demanded
deletion of
Ladsous' name
-- but not
that of his
predecessor
Jean-Marie
Guehenno.
After
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
refused to
answer
Inner City
Press'
question
whether the
now unnamed UN
official's
trip
was as claimed
about the
"political
track" or
rather only
about the
observers, a
senior UN
Security
official told
Inner City
Press the
censorship
call had been
misplaced,
since
"ambassadors"
were the
source of the
Ladsous
information.
At
the UN before
leaving
Ladsous told
Inner City
Press
in response to
a question, "I
do not speak
to you,"
but DPKO
military
adviser
Babacar Gaye
did
answer
questions, and
appeared at
Ladsous' side
at the
DamaRose
Hotel.
Ladsous'
inability
to talk to the
press, and
since he was
put in place
by
Nicolas
Sarkozy as a
last minute
replacement
for Jerome
Bonnafont,
mounting
peacekeeping
failures from
the Congo to
Haiti to now
Syria
have led to
calls for new
French
president
Francois
Hollande to
replace him.
Hollande's
foreign
minister
Laurent Fabius
conferred with
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon on
Saturday
morning in
a meeting the
UN
did not
disclose or
confirm in
advance.
Afterward the
French
readout
included UN
reform,
while Ban
Ki-moon's did
not. An
urgent and
concrete
reform, some
say,
would be the
replacement of
Ladsous.
As
Inner City
Press reported
on May 16--
and modified
at the UN's
demand as
shown
in this
version -- on
May 16 a
Security
Council
Permanent
Representative
told the press
that
"in
the
coming days
Jean-Marie
'Guehenno and
DPKO,' the UN
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations,
will go to
Damascus, on
the political
track,
with it was
hoped Kofi
Annan to
follow. Later
on May 16,
Inner City
Press was
informed that
the request
was made
[initially deleted
at UN's
request but now
reported:
Ladsous plus
three]
on the issue
of the
observers, not
the political
track."
More
than 12 hours
later DPKO's
spokesman
Kieran Dwyer,
copying Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky,
wrote:
Date:
Thu,
May 17, 2012
at 7:46 AM
I
have become
aware of
you[r] web
article and
tweets naming
[individual's
name included
in DPKO's
email, but
initially
deleted, now
reported: Mr.
Ladsous]
as
planning to
travel to
syria along
with dpko
colleaugues.
Your
decision to
publish this
information in
advance of a
trip has
created
a potentially
serious
security
situation for
un personnel.
I ask that
you remove all
such
references
from the inner
city press
website
without delay
For
the UN to
request
post-publication
removal from
the Internet
of
information,
stated on the
record by a
Security
Council's
Permanent
Representative,
seemed to
implicate
freedom of the
press issues
which
have not been
the UN's
priority under
Ban Ki-moon.
But within
minutes of
receiving the
above, Inner
City Press
modified the
story,
removing the
name and an
included
critique of
the individual
specified in
DPKO's removal
request -- that
is, Mr.
Ladsous and
his refusal to
answer any
questions as
DPKO fails
under his
watch.
Later
on May 17
at that day's
noon briefing
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Nesirky:
Inner
City
Press: on
Syria,
yesterday, a
Security
Council
Permanent
Representative
said that DPKO
and an
individual who
he named would
be traveling
to
Damascus. And
he said this
was on the
political
track of the
Kofi
Annan plan.
Other
diplomats have
said that this
visit is
limited to
the issue of
the observers.
Is
it about the
political
track or is it
about the
observers?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well, Matthew,
you and I both
know the
background to
your
question here,
and quite
clearly the
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
does not
release travel
plans of its
officials.
Inner
City
Press: But I
guess my
question is,
as reporters
here, if
Permanent
Representatives
describe a
trip to us,
are we not
supposed
to report that
or do you tell
diplomats, for
example, even
the Syrian
Government is
informed about
this trip,
including the
individuals
who
are going. So
I just wanted
to understand
what the
protocol is,
since I was
requested to
remove the
individual’s
name from the
story I wrote;
what is the
protocol on
reporting what
is said on the
record at the
UN? I
understand the
security
thing, but if
you are
giving the
names to
Syria-
Spokesperson:
Well,
Matthew,
not for the
first time,
you are mixing
up
lots of points
here and
twisting your…
the words, and
it is,
frankly,
unacceptable.
Inner
City
Press: So
we shouldn’t
report on
this, this UN
mission in
Syria?
Spokesperson:
Matthew, you
know very well
that this is
the way that
you are trying
to distort
this to make
into a matter
of freedom of
information…
Inner
City
Press I
received an
e-mail to
change a
story, and I
disagree with
it
entirely,
absolutely,
100 per cent.
Spokesperson:
This is a
matter of
security. It
involves the
lives of
individuals,
and I think
that it is
something that
everyone needs
to reflect on.
The
very next day
Annan's
spokesman said
that his
Deputy will
travel to
Syria. Then
Ladsous
appeared
spinning in
Damascus.
Watch this
site.
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