UN
Peacekeeping
Com'te Rift on
Ladsous'
Drones,
Despite Spin
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Scoops
UNITED
NATIONS, March
13 -- The UN's
use of
"unmanned
aerial
vehicles" is
spun as
without
controversy,
for example by
having a
recent report
spoon-fed
to Reuters and
a few others
but never at a
question and
answer press
conference.
But
on March 13 at
the UN's
Special
Committee on
Peacekeeping
Operations it
was clear
again that
controversy
and push-back
remain, not
least on how
UN
Peacekeeping
under Herve
Ladsous would
use the
information.
This
issue was
raised by C-34
members when
Ladsous first
pitched his
drone plan;
Ladsous
refused to
answer Press
questions
about it. Now
Herve "The
Drone" Ladsous
had gone so
far as to try
to block
the Press'
camera, Vine
here.
Back
on February
24, 2015,
Inner City
Press asked
the UN:
Inner
City Press:
This has to do
with Jane Holl
Lute and this
report about
technology and
peacekeeping
which some
call the
“drone report”
because it
proposes
drones.
I’m wondering
one, can she
do a press
conference on
it? How
much money was
spent on the
report and why
was it
released in
this kind of
quiet or
selective way?
Spokesman
Dujarric:
I’ve heard
your request
and we will
pass it on to
DPKO.
But no
response was
ever given,
nor press
conference
held. Now
maybe some
Western
countries can
trade other
issues behind
closed doors
to clean up or
cover up
Ladsous' drone
mess. But why
in secret? Why
not answer
questions?
This hypocrisy
might help
explain it:
When
the UN
Security
Council
visited the
Central
African
Republic
earlier this
week, the
issue of the
UN underpaying
the
peacekeepers
there was not
raised,
publicly or at
all.
But back in UN
headquarters
in the C-34
Special
Committee on
Peacekeeping
Operations,
discontent
with DPKO as
run by Herve
Ladsous was
mounting. On
CAR, one issue
about which
C-34
exclusively
told Inner
City Press was
Ladsous'
DPKO's refusal
to comply with
the
recommendations
of the Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations to
pay a risk
premium to
peacekeepers
in the
dangerous
missions.
Under Ladsous,
DPKO tells
Troop
Contributing
Countries with
their soldier
in CAR that it
is not
dangerous
there -- while
saying quite
the opposite
elsewhere.
Several
delegates
called this
rank
hypocrisy.
Some thanked
Inner City
Press for publishing
the Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services
report, here,
on how
positions in
the UN
missions in
Haiti and the
DR Congo were
sold by Cote
d'Ivoire's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Ouattara.
Now
DPR Ouattara
has become the
charge
d'affaires
since
Permanent
Representative
Bamba,
who was not
involved the
corruption,
has been
ousted,
alleged due to
a speech
on his watch
calling
Western Sahara
the last
colony in
Africa (this
was, but is
not longer,
Cote
d'Ivoire's
position).
Ladsous, as
shown by
multiple videos
including this
and this
and this
Vine,
refuses to
answer Press
questions.
The UN
Security
Council
creates
peacekeeping
operations --
so what is
their role in
ensuring that
DPKO pay the
peacekeepers
fairly,
including in
accordance
with the
Special
Advisory
Group's report
and related
General
Assembly
resolution?
What is the
Security
Council's
oversight
role, for
example on the
report of
demonstrators
in Gao in
Northern Mali
being shot?
This month's
Security
Council
president, the
French
Mission, told
Inner City
Press that
whether or not
the Security
Council will
get any
information
from the Gao
report is
entirely up to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon. How
can that be?
And what of
Ladsous, and
ultimately
Ban, claiming
CAR is not
dangerous, in
order to
underpay the
peacekeepers,
as described
to Inner City
Press by C-34
delegates?
We'll have
more on this.
In the UN's
first
sub-basement
on March 13,
some delegates
suggested that
the C-34's
forthcoming -
or not -
report would
be “the worst
ever.” Watch
this site.
, 
