To
Burundi, Sale
of Grenades
Was Pushed by
Ladsous, of UN
and France
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS, May
15 -- As the
UN Security
Council, the United States
and the UN
Peacebuilding
Configuration
on Burundi
on Friday
evening issued
statements
urging calm in
the country,
Inner City
Press learned
of a quite
different
trend, from
within the UN
itself.
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous,
multiple
sources
exclusively
complained to
Inner City
Press, wrote a
letter urging
that Burundi's
government be
provided with
weapons,
ostensibly for
peacekeeping,
including
grenades. One
letter was to
Montenegro.
The sources
asked Inner
City Press
what
safeguards if
any were in
place that
these grenades
and other
weapons are
not used
against
democracy
protesters in
Burundi
itself. They
noted that
Ladsous'
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
"let
Nkurunziza
take nine
million
dollars from
the
contingent-owned
equipment
fund," which
one called "a
variation on
Rwanda in
'94."
Another noted
that since
Ladsous had,
as French
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
in the Security
Council in 1994
defended
the escape
into Eastern
Congo of the
Rwanda's Hutu
genocidaires,
this push to
sell grenades
to Nkurunziza
was "not
surprising."
But why should
such an
individuals be
head of UN
Peacekeeping?
Apparently it
is up to France
and France
alone.
Others noted a
closed door
session of the
UN's budget
committee set
for next week
in which
Ladsous'
intervention
to try to
force out the
whistleblower
who revealed
French
"Sangaris"
troops' child
rapes in
Central
African
Republic would
have to be
defended, this
time by Ban
Ki-moon's
chief of staff
Susana
Malcorra.
"Why don't
they just fire
Ladsous?" one
well place
diplomat asked
Inner City
Press, then
answering the
question:
"because
France." But
for how long?
Watch this
site.
During the UN
Peacekeeping
configuration
meeting on May
15, Inner City
Press is
exclusively
informed,
Tanzania's
Ambassador
asked the UN's
head of
Political
Affairs
Jeffrey
Feltman why
the UN and
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon had
been so slow
to condemn the
coup.
Inner City
Press put the
question to
Ban's deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq at
the UN's
public noon
briefing on
May 15, to
give the UN a
change to
publicly
explain.
But as on a scandal
about Ban and
his nephew
being reported
on here by
Inner City
Press and
media in
Vietnam and
South Korea,
where Ban
Ki-moon is
headed, Haq
response was
essentially
that the UN is
good, that is
does not need
to explain (in
the case of
Ban's nephew)
or should be
presumed to be
always deeply
engaged and
deeply
concerned.
Some simply
don't believe
that.
While Haq at
the May 15
noon briefing
said that Ban,
who has yet to
speak with
Nkurunziza,
spoke with
Kenya's
President
Kenyatta,
Inner City
Press is
informed that
in the closed
Peacebuilding
Configuration
meeting it was
said that Ban
called
Rwanda's Paul
Kagame as
well. If so,
why didn't Haq
say that? (Click here
for another
exclusive
story about
Ban's office
not disclosing
Ban's call
with US John
Kerry about
Yemen).
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