On
Syria, Ladsous
"Dismantling"
Mission,
Osorio With
Malcorra,
Sudan Contrast
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July
25 -- UN
Peacekeeping
boss Herve
Ladsous and
his
spokespeople
have not
answered the
questions that
have arisen at
the
Security
Council about
UN officials
quotes, to
Agence France
Presse,
that, "one
hundred and
fifty
observers left
Syria on
Tuesday
evening and
Wednesday and
they
will not come
back."
And
so late
Wednesday
afternoon
Inner City
Press asked
outgoing
Security
Council
president
Nestor Osorio
about the
quote, and
what he has
heard from the
UNSMIS
mission.
On camera,
Osorio said
that he has
arranged to
speak with new
Mission chief
Babacar Gaye
tomorrow, July
26.
Off
camera, Osorio
told Inner
City Press
that he spoke
earlier on
July 25
to "Susana
Malcorra."
While she used
to be the
chief of the
Department of
Field Support,
she has been
replaced in
that by Amira
Haq. Still, it
with her that
Osorio spoke,
and arranged a
call with
Gaye on July
26.
To
some,
including at
least two
large Troop
Contributing
Countries, it
seems strange
what Malcorra
is doing, and
Haq not doing
or being
allowed to do.
But since
Haq's DFS
shares the
same spokesman
as
Ladsous,
who refuses
all Press
questions,
it has not
been possible
to
get a direct
response.
Instead,
Inner
City Press
waited to
speak with
another well
placed (in the
North Lawn) UN
source, who
said that for
now, it is
"Malcorra
uber alles,"
speaking for
Ban Ki-moon.
Malcorra is if
nothing
else an
effective and
hard-charging
person. It is
unclear what
her
position is on
a Team Ban USG
who refuses
all Press
questions
based
on the content
of coverage.
Off
the record
from the
Western side,
it was
admitted to
Inner City
Press
that Ladsous
is
"dismantling"
the UNSMIS
mission,
despite
the language
of the
resolution
agreed to on
July 20.
This
stands in
contrast, for
example, to
the UNMIS
mission in
Sudan which
after
expiration
stayed months
in the war
zone of
Southern
Kordofan.
The rush to
get out of
Syria and "not
come back" is
a
political one,
consonant with
France's
position on
the July 20
resolution but
not its
language.
Again,
as one
Security
Council member
put it to
Inner City
Press, "that
is not for
Ladsous to
decide,
whether they
will come
back. There is
a
report to be
written -- by
the way, where
has Ladsous
put the UNSMIS
report on
Houla? And
then it's up
to the
Security
Council to
consider
it."
Another
Ambassador
told Inner
City Press
that Ladsous
is
"intentionally
misinterpreting
Resolution
2059," which
extended the
mission for
30 days.
Inner
City Press
went to the UN
noon briefing
on Wednesday
and asked for
more
information
about Ladsous
sending the
observers
home, and even
on how the
announcement
was
distributed.
"By DPKO,"
said
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey.
But
since DPKO
pointedly did
not send the
transcript of
Ladsous' and
Babacar Gaye's
to all UN
correspondents
who actively
report on
Syria,
Inner City
Press asked
Del Buey why
his Office
routinely
re-sent out
the
announcements
of Joint
Special Envoy
Kofi Annan and
his spokesman
Ahmad Fawzi,
but does not
do so with the
more
"selective"
DPKO of Herve
Ladsous?
These are
questions we
will continue
to ask.
, 
