From
Syria, As UN
Ladsous Send
Half of
Observers
Home, Qs from
SC
Ignored
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 25 --
From Syria, UN
Peacekeeping
boss Herve
Ladsous is
quoted that he
has send one
half of the UN
observers
home.
From New
York come
questions: by
what right?
The UN Security
Council
debated
and
unanimously
decided to
keep the
observers in
Syria at least
for
the next
thirty days.
But
back on June
15, as Inner
City Press exclusively
reported that
day Ladsous'
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
turned in a
notice to
Security
Council
members that
the Observer
Mission in
Syria UNSMIS
has limited
its mobile
activities
as of 6 pm
Damascus time
that day.
In
fact, not only
did then-chief
of UNSMIS
General Robert
Mood not make
that
announcement
until the
afternoon of
June 16 in
Damascus
--
witnesses tell
Inner City
Press UNSMIS
went out on
patrol on the
morning of
June 16,
after Ladsous'
notice.
And
so three times
Inner City
Press has
asked the lead
spokesman for
Ladsous -- who
openly and repeatedly
refuses to
answer any
Inner City
Press question
-- and for Ban
Ki-moon to
describe
Ladsous' role
in limiting
UNSMIS.
Several
Security
Council
members have
opined that
Ladsous
appears to be
trying to
"kill" or end
the UNSMIS
mission, and
have noted
that this
appears
congruent with
French policy.
Some
say this is a
problem with
giving a major
UN department
like
Peacekeeping
to a single
nation with a
loud foreign
policy.
It seems to be
this question,
about the
relation
between his
country's and
his policies,
had Ladsous
calls
insulting
innuendo. But
it is a
question that
has to be
asked; it is
not
"personal."
Inner City
Press has
asked the same
question about
and to
American
Jeffrey
Feltman, who
replaced
American Lynn
Pascoe atop
the UN
Department of
Political
Affairs. And
Feltman
answered, and
answers.
Ladsous has
openly said he
will answer no
Press
questions.
We note that
France
used DPKO to
carry out its
policy in Cote
d'Ivoire -- of
course, with
the fig leaf
of deferential
Security
Council
resolutions --
and now
seeks to do so
in Syria,
these members
complain.
Ladsous'
response?
None -- he and
his spokesman
Kieran
Dwyer refuse
to answer
the most basic
questions,
such as will
anyone fill in
for Babacar
Gaye for the
30 days
(apparently no
more) that he
will be in
Syria. They
feed YouTube
videos
selectively,
Ladsous and an
accordian, and
hope no one
notice
contradictions
in what
Ladsous is
doing. But
these will be
noted
here. Watch
this site.
, 
