By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 3 --
After UN
Peacekeeping
run by Herve
Ladsous
announced a 48
hour
"ultimatum,"
in New York
several
Security
Council
members told
Inner City
Press that
Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon or
at least his
Great Lakes
envoy Mary
Robinson
hadn't
known of and
weren't happy
with the
threat.
Inner
City Press
went to the August
2 UN noon
briefing,
after being "shut
down" on the
topic on
August 1
by Ban's
spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky, and asked:
Inner
City Press: On
DRC, the
ultimatum or
48-hour
deadline,
questions
have arisen,
including
here, among
Security
Council
members, of
whether the
Secretary-General
and Mary
Robinson, were
they given any
prior notice
of that?
There’s been
some criticism
of the way it
was announced
from the ICGLR
[International
Conference on
the Great
Lakes Region].
So, just to
understand how
these things
occur, I
know that
missions may
have total
independence,
but was the
Secretary-General
and was Mary
Robinson, as
his envoy to
the Great
Lakes, were
they told in
advance of
this impending
48-hour
deadline?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well, missions
don’t have
total
independence.
I think
you understand
that, Matthew.
They operate
under Security
Council
mandate, and
the Force
Commander and
the Special
Representative
for
the Mission
have clear
reporting
lines, so I
don’t think
that you
should see
this as some
kind of
autonomous
decision-making.
Inner
City Press:
one follow-up
on that
because I
understand
that there is
a reporting
line, there is
a mandate; I
guess the
question is,
someone on the
Council said
that they
don’t
micromanage
these
things, so my
question to
you is a
decision such
as to announce
a
48-hour
deadline to
have all
weapons out of
that area, is
that the
kind of thing
that gets
checked at
Headquarters
before it’s
announced, or
is that viewed
as simply as
implementation
of a mandate
given from New
York and can
be announced?
Spokesperson:
I think it
would depend
on the
circumstances.
I don’t think
that
I am in a
position here
to lay down
the certain
policy on how
Force
Commanders
take decisions
in the field.
When I say
that they have
a
reporting line
to the
Security
Council, it’s
obvious that
the
Security
Council is not
sitting there
giving
instructions
every day. I
mean that
there is a
clear mandate
provided, in
this case, not
least, for
protection of
civilians in
part.
Therefore, the
need for
the Mission to
carry out the
operation that
it’s carrying
out is to
ensure that
civilians are
better
protected in
an area where
they have
suffered
enormously.
Let me go to
other people
and I will
come back
to you.
While
appreciated,
especially
after the
August 1 "shut
down"
(video
here), it
still didn't
answer: were
Ban Ki-moon
and Mary
Robinson
told of the
ultimatum in
advance?
Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations
sources who, unlike Herve Ladsous actually
answer Inner
City Press'
questions,
said that
Ladsous'
spokesperson
Keiran Dwyer
"screwed up"
by
distributing
the MONUSCO
press
release and
map in New
York, "making
it a big deal
than it was,
and a fiasco."
It's
ironic,
because Dwyer
and the three
people who
work for him
have not
responded now
in five weeks
to Inner City
Press' simple
request for
yes
or no if DPKO
supports units
of the
Congolese Army
named in the UN
Group of
Experts report
as supporting
the FDLR,
recruiting
child
soldiers,
raping and
looting.
One
DPKO
spokesperson
said they
would answer
after that
weekend, five
weeks ago.
Then, nothing.
Finally
Nesirky said
that DPKO will
not
answer about
unit numbers.
But the
numbers, like
the 41st
Battalion
implicated in
the 135 rapes
in Minova, ARE
listed in
MONUSCO's own
press
conference
documents.
Meanwhile
Agence
France Presse
today ran a
story citing
the "UN
panel of
experts"
report, the
full text of
which
Inner City
Press exclusively
put online in
June --
but only on
M23 and
Rwanda, no
mention for
example of its
statements on
Congolese Army
units /
commanders
supporting the
FDLR units.
Ladsous,
the
fourth
Frenchman in a
row atop DPKO,
previously
served on an
AFP
managerial
board; at the
UN, he summons
AFP and a
handful of
others
to hand out
(false)
answers to
questions he
refuses to
answer when
Inner City
Press asks
them.
Click
here
for the
"Ladsous in
the Hallway" (with
AFP, Reuters
and Voice of
America) video.
Recently at
the Security
Council
stakeout, Ladsous'
mic-grabbing
spokesperson
brushed off
the head of
the Darfur
mission to
insist that
AFP be given
the
microphone,
click
here for that.
Given
that Ladsous
was France's
Permanent
Representative
at the UN
during
the Rwanda
genocide,
arguing for
the escape of
the genocidaires
into
Eastern Congo,
and now (mis)
manages an
all-African
Intervention
Brigade there
-- some
question
whether if
should be
recused from
this
whole matter.
Watch this
site.
, 
