NYT on
Darfur Failure
of UNAMID
Omits Call for
Ladsous'
Ouster
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 25, more
here --
Amid the cover
up of rapes in
DR Congo and
now in Darfur
by UN
Peacekeeping,
whose chief
Herve Ladsous
met with
Sudan's
International
Criminal Court
- indicted
president Omar
al Bashir
without ever
explaining
why, 123
non-governmental
organizations
and human
rights experts
and
activists have
called for
Ladsous to be
fired. Ladsous
video here,
Vine
here.
Therefore it
is amazing
that the "paper
of record" can
write about UN
Peacekeeping
in Darfur,
and even quote
Ladsous (who
had not even
tried to hold
any open UNHQ
Q&A since
September,
when he blocked
the Press'
camera and
canceled)
-- without
mentioning
this or the
letter from
the 123 NGOs
and experts
asking that
Ladsous by
fired for
under-performance
in Darfur.
It
is reported:
“The
heart of the
matter for us
remains the
protection of
civilians
affected by
the conflict
and ensuring
that any
drawdown does
not have a
negative
impact on this
critical
task,” said
the United
Nations’ under
secretary
general for
peacekeeping,
Hervé Ladsous.
“My sense is
that while we
have by no
means been
perfect in
this regard,
without us
many, many
more would
have been
killed,
displaced, put
in harm’s
way.”
What about the
calls to fire
Ladsous?
Inner City
Press has
obtained the
letter and
published it.
At the UN's
December 22
noon briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric to
confirm
receiving and
then provide
responsive
comment on the
letter. Video
here,
including
sample Ladsous
"walk away" on
April 23, 2014
about his
cover up in
South Sudan.
This follows
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon taking
no questions
about Darfur
or Sudan
during his
December 17
press
conference (at
which, as
noted by the Free UN Coalition for Access, Ban seemed
to have the
content of
questions in
advance.)
Nor did Ban
answer Inner
City Press'
request for an
update at the
Darfur rapes
at the end of
his December
22 media
stake-out.
The letter is
copied to the
presidents /
prime
minister,
foreign
ministers and
UN ambassadors
of the US, UK
and France.
How will they
respond,
particularly
France which
installed
Ladsous atop
UN
Peacekeeping
after their
first
selection,
Jerome
Bonnafont, was
rejected at
the last
minute by the
UN? And how
might this new
outspokenness
of NGOs impact
attempts to
install Andrew
Lansley atop
the UN Office
for the
Coordination
of
Humanitarian
Affairs?
The letter
says, "The
result has
been a vastly
expensive and
discredited UN
mission, led
by Herve
Ladsous, who
consistently
and
deliberately
diminishes the
scale of the
conflict in
Darfur,
thereby
enabling
Khartoum’s
crimes to
flourish,
whilst the
international
community
congratulates
itself on
improved
circumstances
in Darfur."
The letter's
final
paragraph
begins, "At the
very least
Herve Ladsous
should not
continue his
role at the UN
DPKO."
, 
