As
UN "Assesses"
Its Congo
Rocket Fire,
Ladsous
Refusing Press
Questions
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 18 --
More than 24
hours after UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous
refused on
camera to take
Press
questions if
his mission in
Congo killed
civilians,
Inner City
Press put the
question for a
second time to
Ban Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey.
Del Buey said
the UN stands
behind what
lead spokesman
Martin Nesirky
said last
week. But,
Inner City
Press pointed
out, that was
before reports
emerged that
the UN's 30 mm
firing from
helicopter
gunships
killed, among
others,
civilians
Bushye Agathe.
After Del Buey
at Wednesday's
noon briefing
said the UN
was standing
behind what
Nesirky said
the previous
week, before
Inner City
Press'
question that
Ladsous
refused to
take, then
this e-mail
came in:
Subject:
Your question
on MONUSCO
From:
UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at] un.org
Date: Wed, Jul
18, 2012
To:
Matthew.Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
Last week,
MONUSCO
engaged two of
its attack
helicopters in
support of
FARDC efforts
to deter M23
elements near
the villages
of Ngugo and
Nysisi, south
of Rutshuru
town, in North
Kivu. The M23
elements were
seen to be
moving south
toward Goma.
MONUSCO had
also received
reports of
human rights
violations by
the M23 in
that area. The
Mission attack
helicopters
used rocket
fire and
missiles to
deter their
further
advances and
protect the
population.
MONUSCO is
currently
assessing the
impact of the
operation,
which took
place in a
remote and
heavily
forested,
mountainous
area.
Ladsous should
have taken and
answered and
still should
answer this
question,
since he is in
charge of the
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations.
But he
refused, on
camera, on
July 17. Video
here, from
Minute 6:50.
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 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.)
But
that reporting
was from
April.
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.
Notably
Ladsous did
take Press
questions
earlier in
May, and what
he fastened on
between then
and May 29 is
mysterious and
/ or
troubling.
Watch this
site
, 
