UN Peacekeeping Job
Deals Exposed Under FOIA But
UN Won't Answer ICP, Uses AFP
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
June 19 – When Jean Pierre
Lacroix, the fifth French boss
of UN Peacekeeping (DPKO) in a
row, held his first press
conference in UN Headquarters
on May 24, Inner City Press
asked him to state what he
sees as the benefits of his
country controlling DPKO for
so long, compared to the
downside (for example the
French Force Sangaris rapes in
CAR), and if he didn't think
in an Organization of 193
states, with most peacekeeping
missions in Africa, the
position should belatedly be
rotated. Amazingly, Lacroix
refused to answer the
question. UN video here,
from 38:38. Now his UN
Peacekeeping, like Ladsous',
uses Agence France Presse to
spin its inaction, telling it
that Antonio Guterres, who
just reneged on Ban Ki-moon
belated pledge to Haiti for
bringing cholera, will pump up
his rare June 20 press
conference with an
announcement on sexual abuse
accountability. The UN and
accountability have become
oxymorons. Now on June 19, UN
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric
has outright refused to
comment on UN Peacekeeping job
offer documents not leaked but
formally requested under
access to information laws in
Canada. From the UN transcript:
Inner City Press: based on
accessed information records
there, showing a variety of UN
DPKO [Department of
Peacekeeping Operations]
requests to Canada for
positions. Since these
seem to be official records of
UN requests made to Canada,
they're not leaked, but,
rather, released under freedom
of information laws, is that
how DPKO operates? Do
they offer to countries
without reference to the
person particular positions
like deputy commander, et
cetera? And can you
confirm that the Dutch are, in
fact, leaving the United
Nations Multidimensional
Integrated Stabilization
Mission in Mali (MINUSMA)?
Spokesman: No, I can't
confirm any… anything about
these documents.
Inner
City Press: Even
though they're…? I mean…
Spokesman: I'm not going
to comment on these
documents. Okay?
Inner
City
Press: Why
not?
Spokesman: Because I
can't.
Inner City Press: They were
released under FOIA.
Spokesman: Madame?
Question: Stéphane
Also
amazing, but now a trend,
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres' top two spokesmen
have refused to answer this
formal question from Inner
City Press: "On CAR and
Berberati, please state when
the UN became aware of the
situation and the SEA risk.
When did UN know, and what did
they do about it?" We'll have
more on this. Lacroix'
DPKO has been exposed in a leaked
memo (1-pager here),
and it is Secretary General
Antonio Guterres and not
Lacroix who has received this
Code Blue letter. Inner City
Press asked UN Spokesman
Dujarric about it on June 7,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I
wanted to ask you about this
memo that's emerged from the
Central African Republic, not
only about the Congolese…
Congo Brazzaville battalion
but about the camp itself that
they're based in, saying that
it's totally contrary… Code
Blue has written to the
Secretary-General, but also
the memo speaks for
itself. It basically
describes a camp that's
totally at odds with the
possible zero tolerance of
sexual abuse. So I'm
wondering, what is his
response to this… beyond… I
believe maybe they'll
repatriate the battalion, but
the critique seems to be much
more fundamental: that
there are camps with no
kitchens for the soldiers,
people going into town trading
sex for food…
Spokesman: I think what
the report shows is that the
Force Commander has been doing
his job. It's part of
the Force Commander's
responsibility to check and to
check on the troops, assess
their performance through a
number of evaluation
mechanisms. The report
has been sent to
Headquarters. The
assessment was, indeed, done
on the Republic of the Congo
troops, on their… the
contingent and on the
base. The result of the
evaluation, which was done not
too long ago, has been shared
with the Member State, and
we're following up on various
options. UN peacekeeping
is obviously, as we've said in
the past, very much committed
to the high standards of
performance and conduct, and
they will spare no action to
reach that goal.
Inner City Press: Who's
responsible for these
bases? I guess what I'm
saying is it's one thing to
say that soldiers did
something, but if this is a UN
base, was the Congolese
battalion entirely in charge
of setting it up, or who
checks these things?
Spokesman: It's part of
the peacekeeping mission, and,
obviously, this is part of a
routine evaluation. And,
as you said, the report is
being evaluated. It was
done as part of the work that
is required by the military
and contingents.
Guterres is once again setting
out on a long trip, this time
to Central Asia. Will the UN
ever be reformed? Can it be?
One nexus here: these abuses
are be troops from
Congo-Brazzaville, a country
like Cameroon and Gabon whose
abuses France covers up,
including in DPKO. Back on May
24 Department of Field
Support's Atul Khare said he
doesn't see Lacroix as French
- besides the point - and when
Inner City Press asked, So how
was a replacement of Herve
Ladsous recruited, UN Deputy
Spokesman Farhan Haq cut off
the follow up, as he hadn't
others. Then Inner City Press
asked lead (French) spokesman
Stephane Dujarric to provide
the response that Lacroix had
refused to. Dujarric declined
to confirm that his new boss
Antonio Guterres had asking
only France for candidates
(the others, Inner City Press
first reported, here
Jean-Maurice Ripert and Sylvie
Bermann). So how is Guterres a
reformer, if he kept this up
and his spokesman won't even
try to explain it? We'll have
more on this. Amid attacks on
and mismanagement from UN
headquarters of the UN
peacekeeping mission in Mali,
MINUSMA, an "extraordinary"
meeting for troop contributors
was held on January 27.
Inner City
Press, which has covered the
disparate treatment in MISUSMA
between for example troops
from Chad and Europe, wanted
to cover it. But due to a
retaliatory eviction
order
by the UN's Cristina Gallach,
it could only do so with the
UN "minder."
Even so,
UN Security officials demanded
to know where its minder was,
cutting off several diplomats
who had approached Inner City
Press to give it information.
As the meeting wound
down, Inner City Press worked
around the minder to learn --
from UN official Atul Khare to
his credit -- that there is
discussion of moving the
Senegalese "quick reaction
force" from Cote d'Ivoire to
Mali.
It was not
possible yet to ask about the
recent mutiny / unrest in Cote
d'Ivoire. Khare had to go, and
Herve Ladsous refused to
answer any Press questions,
having been exposed
linking peacekeepers' rapes
to "R&R."
Other
diplomats, even as Inner City
Press was being told to leave
the second floor where other
journalist were free to stay
(though none were in fact
staking out the Mali meeting),
told Inner City Press that
Egypt is offering a battalion.
Troublingly, to some, Sri
Lanka is being recruited by
the UN to provide
"convoy protection," despite
its military's record of
killing in northern Sri Lanka
in 2008 and 2009
and abuses since, to say
nothing of sexual
abuse in Haiti.
Inner City
Press wants to do more
reporting into the UN's
engagement with the Sri Lankan
military. But Gallach's minder
ordered Inner City Press to
leave. This is censorship.
To be continued.
***
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-303,
UN, NY 10017 USA
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in
the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright
2006-2015 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
for
|
,
