At
Uzbek
UN Bash, Talk
of Libyan Oil,
US on
Palestine, No
Tears for
Bonnafont
Losing DPKO
Post to
Ladsous
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 6 --
As Uzbekistan
celebrated its
20th
anniversary
of
independence
on a rainy
Tuesday night
in New York,
the talk was
of
the fight for
oil in Libya,
and
Palestine's
possible moves
at the UN
later this
month.
"American
oil
companies were
and will be
big in Libya,"
one Security
Council
diplomat told
Inner City
Press between
bites of
Central Asian
plov.
"Of course
Sarkozy is
interested.
But there's no
way France is
getting
anywhere near
35% of Libyan
oil."
Also
regarding
France, major
troop
contributing
countries
marveled at Herve
Ladsous
taking the
post UN
Peacekeeping
post over
Jerome
Bonnafont.
"Ladsous
was
the chief of
staff," one
troop
contributor
put it, "he
could step in
at any time
and did." Of
the French
Mission to the
UN not knowing
it was Ladsous
and not
Bonnafont he
said, "Ban
Ki-moon told
the important
people, in
Paris."
Around
the bar in
the Czech
Bohemian
National Hall
on Manhattan's
73rd Street,
diplomats
marveled at
how the Obama
administration
is trying to
put
pressure on
the
Palestinians
to "stand
down" at the
UN in
September,
certain not to
ask for UN
membership in
the Security
Council. "A
Quartet
statement
won't be
enough," a
well
placed
Ambassador put
it.
Present
to hear
the single
speech by the
Uzbek
Permanent
Representative,
and music
from an Uzbek
classical
group flown in
from Tashkent
for the
occasion
were the
Permanent
Representatives
of not only
Central Asian
states
but also,
among others,
Bosnia, South
Africa,
Turkey,
Afghanistan,
Pakistan,
Japan, , the
Democratci
People's
Republic of
Korea a/k/a
North Korea,
Sri
Lanka,
Bangladesh,
Nigeria,
Syria, Costa
Rica, Cuba and
many others,
including
Deputy
Secretary
General Asha
Rose Migiro.
Uzbek
Permanent
Representative
Murad Askarov
greeted the
guests as they
came in, and
then gave a
short speech
saying his
hoped that in
the next
twenty
years,
Uzbekistan
will have its
own building
twice his
size. He spoke
of peace with
neighbhors; in
the background
are water
fights with
Tajikistan,
and upcoming
elections in
Kyrgyzstan
that may
exclude the
ethnic Uzbeks.
Uzbek
musicians at
Sept 6
reception,
Bonnafont
blues not
shown (c) MLee
The
Permanent
Representative
of Kazakhstan,
quite
respectfully,
noted that her
country will
celebrate its
20th
anniversary of
independence
in
December. She
noted that her
president will
be coming to
the General
Debate, one of
eight heads of
state invited
by Ban Ki-moon
to speak
about nuclear
safety. And
Obama, she
said, has
written to her
head of
state about an
upcoming
summit on the
same topic.
"We
had
missiles that
could have hit
the United
States," she
said, "and
we were the
only Islamic
country to
have them. You
can imagine
the
pressure. But
we gave them
up."
And
so the UN's
high season
begins, with
Permanent
Representatives
getting ready
to
greet their
ministers and
heads of
state. Watch
this site.
* * *
UN
Top
Peacekeeping
Post Given to
Herve
Ladsous,
"The Other
Frenchman,"
Despite or Due
to Bonnafont's
Bragging
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 2, updated
-- After
leaving the
UN's top
peacekeeping
job vacant for
four weeks,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon on
Friday as
expected named
a Frenchman to
the post, but
not the
Frenchman who
had been
bragging that
he had the
job, Jerome
Bonnafont.
Inner City
Press had
been the first
to name
Bonnafont,
and quoted
Indian
diplomats to
whom Bonnafont
bragged he had
the job.
Even
in front of
the Security
Council on Friday
morning,
the departing
spokesman
for the French
Mission to the
UN was unaware
of dark horse
candidate
Ladsous.
So were
others in the
French
political
world. On
August 20, Inner
City Press published
a card of
congratulation
directed to
Bonnafont at
the UN in New
York from
French Senator
Jean-Marie
Bockel.
But
at Friday's
noon briefing,
the name read
out was Herve
Ladsous. Inner
City Press
asked Ban's
new deputy
spokesman
Eduardo del
Buey to
describe the
selection
process, and
whether any of
the finalists
had not been
French. His
answer was
general, that
all UN
selections
like the one
through which
he got his job
are
transparent.
But
the top
peacekeeping
job, and most
Under
Secretary
General jobs,
are different.
Kofi Annan
"gave" DPKO to
France as part
of being
Secretary
General. From
Jean-Marie
Guehenno the
post went to
Alain Le Roy
and now to the
third
Frenchman in a
row.
Owning UN
Peacekeeping
is useful to
France: just
this week in
Paris, Nicolas
Sarkozy
bragged of his
country's
military
action in Cote
d'Ivoire as
well as Libya.
As reflected
in documents
exclusively
obtained and
published
by Inner City
Press, France
has no problem
using DPKO to
advance its
economic
interests, click here for
examples.
Who
is Herve
Ladsous? He
was French
ambassador to
Indonesia,
then a
spokesman and
diplomat in
Paris, then
Ambassador to
China.
He appears in
a 2006
Wikileaks
cable about
Sri Lanka,
telling the US
that he is
angling to get
appointed to
an
Ambassadorship
in India --
where
Bonnafont went
-- or China.
He does not
appear to have
any military
experience.
Tellingly, he
was France's "deputy
ambassador to
the United
Nations in New
York."
We'll have
more on this.
Ladsous,
Bonnafont and
selection
process not
shown
Here
is the
referenced
Wikileaks
cable from
2006:
"French
MFA
A/S equivalent
for Asia,
Herve Ladsous.
Ladsous said
that the GoF
had no
objections in
principle to
forming the
two working
groups,
though, he
added, France
would probably
not insert
itself into a
leadership
position. He
said that the
GoF would
support the
formation of
both working
groups and
noted that the
group charged
with examining
LTTE financing
would be of
particular
interest to
the GoF given
France's
significant
Tamil
population...
Ladsous
mentioned that
he was angling
to become the
next French
Ambassador to
China or
India."
And the
rest, as they
say, is
history. We'll
have more --
watch this
site.
, 
in