As
UN
Proposes
Peacekeeping
Surveillance,
Opposition to
DPKO's
"Spymaster"
Ladsous and
His "Drones"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 23 -- In
a recent
closed door
meeting of the
UN's
Special
Committee on
Peacekeeping
Operations,
the UN's top
peacekeeper
Herve Ladsous
made proposals
on
"surveillance"
that have
stirred
opposition.
The
opponents say
Ladsous, the
fourth
Frenchman in a
row to be put
atop the
Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations, is
moving "to use
drones and
communications
interception,"
as one
well-placed
Troop
Contributing
Country's
representative
complained to
Inner City
Press.
"He
can't
even handle
keeping South
Sudan covered
by
helicopters,"
the
representative
said
derisively.
"And now he
wants drones?
What
commercial
interest is
being this?
And how could
we be sure the
information
collected
would stay
with the UN?"
These
and other
C-34 members'
comments
reflected a
distrust of
Ladsous, who
last year
replaced
fellow French
bureaucrat
Alain Le Roy.
Under the two
men,
the UN
Peacekeeping
Mission in
former French
colony Cote
d'Ivoire
helped turn
out and then
arrest anti
imperialist
Ivorian leader
Laurent
Ggabgo.
Unlike Le Roy,
however,
Ladsous
refuses to
answer even
the simplest
of questions,
such as
whether his
DPKO now
belatedly has
military
helicopters
flying in
South Sudan,
or why
his mission in
Haiti has no
standing
claims
commission to
handle the
complaint it
introduced
cholera to the
island.
"Who
would
decide who
they would spy
on," the
skeptic asked,
"and who
would get the
information?"
Another opined
that this
would be a way
for "Western
intelligence
services" to
drape
themselves in
UN blue - and
immunity. A
Secretariat
staffer
complained of
a proposal for
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon to
have his own
intelligence
service.
There
was opposition
from within
DPKO itself.
One staff
member said,
"Ladsous
already said
he is not a
visionary,
fine. But now
he wants to be
a
spymaster?"
There
are other
issues slowing
down the C-34
process, as
Inner City
Press reported
last
Friday.
(Since then,
Inner City
Press has been
inquiring into
and being
contacted
about the
surveillance
issue).
What's being
called
"Ladsous'
drone"
proposal is
among the C-34
sticking
points. It is
not going
anywhere soon
-- but some
wish Ladsous
were, for the
good of the
UN. Watch this
site.
, 
