On UN
Drones, Meece
Says "Several"
UNSC
Members
Support, So
Move Fast
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 20 --
Even after
five countries
on the UN
Security
Council raised
doubts about
the proposal
by Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations
chief Herve
Ladsous to use
drones, the
head
of DPKO in the
Democratic
Republic of
Congo Roger
Meece is now
quoted
that drone use
should move
ahead
"rapidly."
On
June 16 Meece
asserted
to Le
Congolais
newspaper that
things should
move quick
because, Meece
said, "the
proposition
was well
received by
SEVERAL
members of the
Security
Council" ("la
proposition a
été
bien
reçue
par plusieurs
membres du
Conseil de
sécurité.")
This
is a dubious
proposition,
that only the
support of
"several
members" --
including
Ladsous'
France and
Meece's United
States
-- is
necessary.
As Inner City
Press reported
after Ladsous'
closed
door pitch to
the Council,
Russia, China,
Azerbaijan,
Rwanda and
Guatemala all
raised
questions.
The questions
include who
would get the
information
feeds from UN
drones -- all
193 member
states? Just
the Permanent
Five members
of the
Security
Council? Just
Ladsous'
France, and
Meece's United
States?
After
reporting on
those
questions as a
follow up to
its March 2012
expose on
Ladsous' badly
received
drones pitch
to the C-34,
Inner City
Press asked UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
to state which
approvals
Ladsous
acknowledged
he would have
to get before
deploying
drones.
Nesirky
said all
necessary
steps would be
taken, but has
not stated
what
those steps
would be.
Inner
City Press
asked if it
were possible,
under the
reign of
Ladsous,
that one day
it would just
be the fact
that DPKO was
using drones.
That, too, has
not been
answered.
Ladsous has
openly refused
to
answer any
Press
questions. See
stakeouts of November 27, December
7
and December
18, 2012, when
Ladsous had
his spokesman
seize the UNTV
microphone
to avoid Inner
City Press'
questions
about the DRC.
Now,
with Meece's
statement,
what will
happen? Watch
this site.
, 
