By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July
14 -- When
former UN
Peacekeeping
chief Jean
Marie Guehenno
took nine
questions a
block from the
UN on July 14,
Inner City
Press managed
to ask him for
his view of France
now
controlling UN
Peacekeeping
four times in
a row, and of
the alleged
child rapes in
Central African
Republic by
the French
Sangaris
force. Periscope video for now here.
Guehenno to
his credit
said that
change is good
and that no
country should
own a post,
including his
own. On the
CAR rapes he
expressed
sympathy for
Jordan's
Prince Zeid,
saying that if
his previously
report were
implemented
this wouldn't
have happened.
The elephant
in the room
was Herve
Ladsous, who
once said in
that same IPI
room "I don't
respond to
you, Mister."
Guehenno had
begun by
saying that
while atop
DPKO he
recused
himself from
Cote d'Ivoire,
having his
deputy Hedi
Annabi (Rest
in Peace) handle
it.
Not only has
Ladsous not
recused
himself from
France's
colonial sphere:
according to
two UN Dispute
Tribunal
rulings he
tried to get
the CAR rapes
whistleblower
Anders Kompass
fired. This
requires
change, the
faster the
better.
Inner City
Press had
wanted to ask
Guehenno about
UN
Peacekeeping
bringing
cholera to
Haiti.
When a
hole opens in
the UN's armor
of immunity,
there are fast
moves to close
it.
On August 7,
2013
with the UN of
Ban Ki-moon
and Herve
Ladsous still
denying all
claims that
Ladsous' UN
Peacekeeping
brought
cholera to
Haiti and
killed 8,000
people, after
Inner City
Press again
asked Ban's
spokesperson
about it,
Ladsous'
predecessor
Jean-Marie
Guehenno tweeted
this:
"Peacekeepers
have
done a lot for
Haiti, but UN
needs to come
clean on
cholera
crisis."
Inner
City Press
retweeted then wrote
about it,
noting that
this is a
former chief
of UN
Peacekeeping.
So where is
Herve Ladsous
on this? He's
out of
headquarters,
after refusing
Press
questions
then spoon-feeding
spin to a
friendly
scribe.
August
7 Q&A
with's Ban's
lead
spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky, here.
Thursday
August
8 was a UN
holiday. So in
its August 7
story, Inner
City Press
asked: what
will the UN
say about its
own former
head of
peacekeeping,
a post now
devolved to
Herve Ladsous
who was
rejected in
favor of
Guehenno, then
in favor of
Alain Le Roy,
then a third
strike in
favor of
Jerome
Bonnafont --
only to be put
in the job by
France after
Bonnafont
bragged about
getting it?
The
flaw was that
Ladsous has
a record, of
arguing for
the escape of
the
genocidaires
from Rwanda
into Eastern
Congo. How
can he lead an
(all African)
intervention
brigade now in
the Congo?
On
August 9,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
associate
spokesperson
Farhan Haq
about what
Jean-Marie
Guehenno said.
Haq replied
there would be
no UN comment
on what
Guehenno said
in his
"private
capacity." Video here, from Minute 2:07.
But lo
and behold
later on the
afternoon of
August 9,
Guehenno who
is now a
professor at
Columbia but
still in the
UN loop,
having had at
least one
Under
Secretary
General job,
and a posting
on Ban's
Senior
Advisory Group
of
Peacekeeping
Operations
(with a Sri
Lankan
military
leader
depicted in
the UN's own
report as
engaged in war
crimes), "clarified"
his August 7
tweet:
"UN
can take
responsibility
by pushing
harder on
member states
to fund health
and sanitation
in Haiti with
substantial
donations."
Suddenly
Guehenno's
(re)
definition of
coming clean
has nothing to
do with taking
responsibility,
but rather
"pushing"
others to pay
for the
consequences
of DPKO's
ongoing
negligence.
Here's
the question:
how can the
UN, and DPKO
which Guehenno
used to head,
preach rule of
law if it
never takes
responsibility?
Blaming
plaintiffs'
attorneys
is not enough:
to merely push
others to pay,
and not accept
responsibility,
is lawless.
Who
"got to"
Guehenno? Or
is the promise
or desire for
future
UN-world posts
enough to
bring about
such a quick
reversal?
Watch this
site. And this
video, before
Guehenno's
"clarification,"
from Minute
2:07:
, 
