Ladsous
Refuses Press
Qs on His
DPKO's Congo
Killings &
Spain Cuts
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 17 --
When UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous came
to
take media
questions
along with
Lebanon envoy
Derek Plumbly
on
Tuesday at
noon, Ladsous'
spokesman
first peeped
out of the
Security
Council to see
which
journalists
were present.
Finally
he led
Ladsous and
Plumbly to the
television
camera and
said they
would take
a few
questions. But
after one
question from
Agence France
Presse,
there was a
silence. Inner
City Press
said it had a
question on
UNIFIL, the UN
mission in
Lebanon.
Ladsous
looked away.
His spokesman
said that
"DPKO is on
the record" as
not
taking any
questions from
Inner City
Press.
Nevertheless,
including
since there
were no other
questions on
Lebanon and
given issues
in
the Congo,
Inner City
Press asked
about Spain
cutting its
troop
contribution
in half, and
of reports
that DPKO's
Mission in the
Congo
MONUSCO had in
fact killed
civilians.
Ladsous
looked at
this spokesman
Kieran Dwyer,
as if for
guidance or
support. One
wonders, does
Dwyer as an
ostensible
communications
professional
agree with
Ladsous'
strategy? Did
he counsel it?
Finally
Ladsous
walked away
from the
microphone,
one of his few
"question and
answer"
sessions. Video
here, from
Minute 6:50.
Inner
City
Press ran to
the UN's noon
briefing and
re-asked the
questions
to Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey, who did
not have
or even
attempt
answers to
either
question,
beyond saying
the Congo's
"terrain is
difficult."
Since
Ladsous
began
this strategy
of explicitly
conditioning
answering
or
even taking
question on
getting
positive --
and we and others
posit, as yet
unmerited --
coverage on
May 29 in a
televised
press
conference,
and
has continued
it off camera
since, Inner
City Press
asked Del Buey
if
Ban Ki-moon
agrees with an
Under
Secretary
General of his
refusing to
answer
questions due
to critical,
investigative
coverage.
(Inner
City
Press has
quoted sources
from closed
door meetings
of the
Committee of
34 that
Ladsous
proposes that
the UN uses drones,
and
several
delegations
think he
already has
the French
firm Thales in
mind.)
Del
Buey
said, "you're
here, we
answer you,
that's where
we'll leave
it." Video
here, from
Minute 8:20.
Still,
Ladsous'
approach is at
odds with Ban
Ki-moon's
claims about
his
administration's
approach to
the media.
We'll pursue
this -- and,
we hope,
answers to the
questions
Ladsous
refused to
answer or even
take, on top
of the
unanswered
questions
about DPKO
introducing
cholera into
Haiti, and Ban
and Ladsous
having as a
Senior Adviser
on
Peacekeeping
Operations an
alleged war
criminal,
Sri Lankan
general
Shavendra
Silva. Watch
this site.
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