UN
Peacekeeping
Not Dominated
Only by
France, Le Roy
Says,
Citing US in
Haiti, UK in
Sierra Leone,
Not Just Cote
d'Ivoire
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 4 -- As
Alain
Le Roy steps
down from the
top UN
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
post, to be
replaced sources
tell
Inner City
Press by
another
Frenchman
Jerome
Bonnafont,
the
question
arises:
why
does France
seem to own
DPKO and did
it misuse its
position in
Cote d'Ivoire,
working with
its own Force
Licorne to
shoot at the
Presidential
Palace of
Laurent
Gbagbo?
At
Le Roy's last
briefing on
August 4,
Inner City
Press asked
him these
questions and
others. Video
here,
from Minute
17:15.
Le
Roy replied
that the
action in Cote
d'Ivoire was
voted by the
full Security
Council. Then
he responded
to the idea
that this is
colonialism by
pointing to
other
situations.
"In Haiti," he
said, "we
were very
pleased when
the US forces
came."
He
mentioned
British troops
in Sierra
Leone and, he
said, troops
of "France
and Germany
and some
others" as the
Artemis force
in Ituri,
Democratic
Republic of
Congo in 2003.
Video here,
from Minute
20:20.
Perhaps
the
question is
not just
limited to
France, then:
perhaps the
UN's work
in the field,
particularly
the
peacekeeping
missions voted
on by the
Security
Council on
which only
five countries
have permanent
seats
and veto
power, is just
powerful
countries'
foreign and
military
policies "on
the cheap."
Inner
City Press
asked Le Roy
about the
inaction of
Egyptian
troops in
Southern
Kordofan and
Zambian troops
in Abyei when
civilians
there were
being
killed by the
Sudanese Army.
Le Roy said
that the
peacekeepers
had
done as best
as they could,
and claimed
that those
civilians who
were
returned to
Kadugli town
all did so by
their own
choice.
Later
in the press
conference, Le
Roy belatedly
admitted that
Sudan's
government had
threatened to
shoot
at UN
helicopters
if they sought
to evacuate
dying
Ethiopian
peacekeepers
from Abyei. Click here
for that.
Le Roy &
Ouattara at
Golf Hotel,
Licorne not
shown
Le
Roy has been
more open to
the press than
most UN
officials,
repeatedly
stopping on
the steps
outside the
Security
Council to
answer Press
questions. He
is returning
to an
auditing job
in Paris, and
perhaps after
that to
another
diplomatic
assignment. He
would not
comment on the
idea of Jerome
Bonnafont or
another
Frenchman
replacing him,
saying "that
is up to the
S-G... it will
be fine." But
will it?
Footnote:
Le
Roy challenged
the press to
devote "one
percent" to
positive
stories about
UN
peacekeeping,
giving
Liberia, Timor
L'este,
Lebanon and
even Haiti and
Cote d'Ivoire
as the
examples.
Having
visited
UNAMID,
UNMIS(S),
MONUC /
MONUSCO and
even UNOCI,
we'll
remain on the
lookout --
keep those
cards and
letters
coming.
, 
in