Congo
Tour by
Ladsous
Triggers
Questions by
Uganda, on Mai
Mai &
Safeguards
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 18
-- During top
UN Peacekeeper
Herve Ladsous'
little
reported trip
to the Great
Lakes region,
Uganda's
foreign
minister Henry
Okello Oryem told reporters
that the
International
Conference for
the Great
Lakes Region
"has lost
faith in
MONUSCO
[the UN
peacekeeping
mission in the
Congo]. If it
was doing its
job
with its large
numbers and
budget, - I
don't think we
would still
have the
crisis in the
DRC today."
One
would expect
Ladsous to
have to
address this
criticism of
one of the
largest
missions under
his command,
during
consultations
with the
Security
Council
Tuesday
afternoon and
with the press
afterward.
But
when Ladsous
emerged before
his briefing
from the first
session of
the 67th UN
General
Assembly, he
walked alone.
Finally he
struck up a
conversation
with a
Permanent
Representative
-- not from
the region,
but from
former
colonial power
Belgium.
There
are other
questions for
Ladsous. Why
did MONUSCO
fly Congolese
officials to
meet with Mai
Mai militia,
who said
afterward it
was an
attempt to
recruit them
to fight the
M23 mutineers?
What was the
body
count when
MONUSCO used
helicopter
gunships and
rockets in
North
Kivu?
Ladsous
since
May has said
he will not
answer Press
questions such
as these.
This began
after
unanswered
questions
about his
proposal that
the
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations use
drones. Who
would get the
information?
All 193 member
states? Only
the 15
Security
Council
members? Only
the Permanent
Five? Only
France? The
questions have
yet
to be
answered.
Watch this
site.
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