At
UN,
Meece in
Denial on
Congo, Ladsous
Mutters on
Syria to
Selected
Scribes
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 13 -- The
UN's current
communications
strategy is
amateurish,
partial and
sometimes
outright
inaccurate.
Consider
UN
Peacekeeping.
The head of
the
peacekeeping
mission in the
Congo,
Roger Meece,
gave a video
briefing about
the mutiny in
Eastern Congo.
Inner City
Press asked
about the role
of Rwanda;
Meece answered
that
there was good
communication
between the
Rwandan and
Congolese
authorities.
Then
it emerged,
stated by
Meece's
mission's own
head of office
in Goma,
that the UN
knew and had
in its care
mutineers who
said they were
recruited and
trained in
Rwanda. Inner
City Press
wrote it,
crediting BBC
and the
tweeter who'd
made it aware,
and then asked
the
UN about
Meece's
previous
statement.
Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey said,
things change.
This, the San
Francisco Bay
View covered,
with credit.
But
when Meece
appeared at
the Security
Council
stakeout on
June 12 and
Inner City
Press asked
him about his
previous
statement in
the video
briefing, and
the BBC story,
Meece denied
it all.
He said he
didn't
have a
transcript of
his video
briefing -- in
fact, as
noted, the
UN's
Department of
Public
Information
entirely
omitted from
its
"press
release" about
the briefing
the Rwanda
question, and
a detailed
question about
a moribund
project,
Meece's Mills,
that
MONUSCO
whistleblowers
have said the
the UN's
Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services
should
investigate.
On
June 12 Meece
said he had no
updated on the
project. But
most
striking was
his statement
that the UN
has still
never said
there was
a Rwandan role
in the mutiny.
This is not
just based on
what Meece
called a
"leaked"
report --
there were and
are direct
quotes from
"Hiroute
Guebre-Selassie,
bureau chief
of the UN
mission in the
DR Congo
(Monusco)."
Does
Meece not know
Ms.
Guebre-Selassie?
What kind of
UN
communications
are these?
Footnote:
Meanwhile,
the head of
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous
openly
refuses to
answer Inner
City Press
questions
about his
Department's
introduction
of cholera
into Haiti and
he and Ban
Ki-moon
accepting
peacekeeping
advice from
alleged war
criminal Sri
Lanka general
Shavendra
Silva.
Ladsous
told
Inner City
Press, "Well,
Mister, I will
start
answering
your questions
when you stop
insulting me
and making
malicious and
insulting
insinuations."
The video, at
Minute 28:10,
is online
at here,
and Ladsous
has since
repeated the
same.
But
on June 12 the
UN's DPKO put
this out:
Subject:
USG
Ladsous on
Syria today
(as told to
Reuters Louis
Charbonneaux
and
AFP Tim
Wichter)
From:
Andre-Michel
Essoungou [at]
un.org
Date:
Tue, Jun 12,
2012 at 2:46
PM
Q
(Louis
Charbonneaux,
Reuters): On
Syria, what is
the latest
now...
USG
Ladsous:
On Syria, I
think there is
massive
increase of
the level of
violence. So
massive indeed
that, in a
way, its
implicate some
change
of nature…
Q
(Louis
Charbonneaux,
Reuters): Is
it civil war
now?
USG
Ladsous:
Yes I think
one can say
that. And
clearly what
is happening
is that the
government of
Syria lost
some large
chunks of
territories
and several
cities to the
opposition and
wants to
retake control
of
these areas.
So now we have
confirmed
reports not
only of the
use of
tanks and
artillery but
also attack
helicopters
and this is
really
becoming
(inaudible).
Because the
opposition
also resists
and they
are incidents
of large
scale… many
incidents
everyday.
For
such a staged
"interview,"
the
"inaudible"
could
probably have
been filled
in, perhaps by
Charbonneaux /
Charbonneau.
Since the
second scribe
is not in the
transcript,
it's not clear
in
what capacity
he was there,
nor where the
there was. Is
this how
Ladsous
intends to
"communicate"
going forward?
What kind
of UN
communications
are these?
Watch this
site.
, 
