By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 1 -- Five
days ago, Inner
City Press
reported
Rwanda
complained to
the UN
Security
Council that
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous and
his MONUSCO
mission flew
FDLR leader
Gaston
Iyamuremye /
Rumuli Michel
on UN aircraft
even as
Ladsous'
travel waiver
request was
denied.
This is a
simple
question about
how public
moneys were
used by the UN
- it is a yes
or no
question. But
still it has
not been
answered.
On June 27
Inner City
Press asked UN
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric a
simple factual
question: did
MONUSCO fly
Rumuli around
inside the DRC
before any
Security
Council
decision on
Ladsous'
request?
This is a yes
or no
question,
about the use
of UN
resources and
money. But
Dujarric did
not answer it
on June 27,
and MONUSCO
chief Martin
Kobler did not
answer it on
June 28 or
June 29.
So on June 30
Inner City
Press asked
Dujarric
again. He
said, as he
increasingly
does, if he
gets something
on that, he'll
pass it along.
But that is UNacceptable.
Did he even ASK
Ladsous' UN
Peacekeeping?
On
July 1, after
covering the
UN's Fifth
(Budget)
Committee negotiations
in which Ladsous
told Group of
77 members
about $200
million in
cuts including
in Darfur, where
his peacekeeping
mission stands
accused of
under-reporting
murders and attack,
Inner City
Press asked
Dujarric
again: did
MONUSCO use UN
resources to
fly Rumuli
around?
Dujarric again
did not answer;
he said, "If I
have something
on that, I
will share
it." Video
here, from
Minute 15:10.
Has Dujarric
even ASKED
Ladsous' DPKO,
to "have something"
-- that is, an
answer?
These
are public resources:
the question
will have to
be answered.
Defenders of
Ladsous --
amazingly,
they exist, usually
for reasons
that have
nothing to do
with Ladsous
-- have
emerged saying
that if the
request for a
travel ban exception
came from a group
of special envoys
whose precise
line-up has yet
to be disclosed,
Ladsous is
blameless.
This ignores
not only his
1994 role, but
since he
become UN
Peacekeeping
chief, his
extraordinary
refusal to
answer Press
questions. Video compilation here. Defenses
of Ladsous
from (some) in
the Great
Lakes and
Belgium of his
refusal to
answer questions
at the UN in
New York are
comical.
For now: it is
undoubtedly
newsworthy
that the UN,
or really
France, chose
to put at the
helm of UN
Peacekeeping
in the Great
Lakes a person
who in 1994,
in the
Security
Council,
argued for the
escape of genocidiares
from Rwanda
into Eastern
Congo. Inner
City Press story
here; sample
1994 memo by
Ladsous here.
Ladsous'
history has
caused
needless
problems; when
asked about
it, rather
than answering
Ladsous has
adopted a
policy of
refusing that
and any
related
question.
Video
compilation
here.
Now in the
Congo Martin
Kobler, who
works for
Ladsous, has not
answered the
simple
question of
flying Rumuli
inside the
DRC; instead
MONUSCO tweets
photos of
Kobler singing
in a choir in
Kinshasa.
Ladsous has
turned the UN
into a joke --
and it keeps
getting worse.
That the
French
government is
in denial
about its role
in 1994 in the
Rwanda
genocide is
one thing. But
why aren't
they told they
have to
appoint a
chief of DPKO
- a position
they claim to
own - without
this
pernicious
baggage?
A bare
minimum:
shouldn't this
official at
least have to
answer
questions?
, 
