On
Syria, As
Ladsous Send
Half of
Observers
Home, UN Says
"Won't
Come Back,"
Selectively
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July
25 -- That UN
Peacekeeping
boss Herve
Ladsous
decided
to send one
half of the UN
observers home
a mere
half-week
after the
Security
Council
extended their
mission for at
least thirty
days is
one thing.
But
questioning of
Ladsous'
actions
escalated
Wednesday in
light of
anonymous UN
officials
quotes, to
Agence France
Presse, that,
"One
hundred and
fifty
observers left
Syria on
Tuesday
evening and
Wednesday and
they
will not come
back."
As
one Security
Council member
put it to
Inner City
Press, "that
is
not for
Ladsous to
decide,
whether they
will come
back. There is
a
report to be
written -- by
the way, where
has Ladsous
put the UNSMIS
report on
Houla? And
then it's up
to the
Security
Council to
consider
it."
Another
Ambassador
told Inner
City Press
that Ladsous
is
"intentionally
misinterpreting
Resolution
2059," which
extended the
mission for
30 days.
Inner
City Press
went to the UN
noon briefing
on Wednesday
and asked for
more
information
about Ladsous
sending the
observers
home, and even
on how the
announcement
was
distributed.
"By DPKO,"
said
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey.
But
since DPKO
pointedly did
not send the
transcript of
Ladsous' and
Babacar Gaye's
to all UN
correspondents
who actively
report on
Syria,
Inner City
Press asked
Del Buey why
his Office
routinely
re-sent out
the
announcements
of Joint
Special Envoy
Kofi Annan and
his spokesman
Ahmad Fawzi,
but does not
do so with the
more
"selective"
DPKO of Herve
Ladsous? It is
a question we
will continue
to ask.
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.
With
that still
unanswered,
after Inner
City Press
asked it three
times and
reported on it
Wednesday
morning, the
Secretary
General's
spokesperson's
office and
not DPKO sent
this:
From:
UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at] un.org
Date: Wed, Jul
25, 2012
at 9:46 AM
Subject:
Response to
recent
question
To:
Matthew.Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
Further
to
you recent
question,
during General
Gaye's
absence,
Deputy
Military
Advisor
Abhijit Guha
will be
officer-in-charge
of DPKO's
military
affairs.
There,
was that so
hard? For
Ladsous and
his spokesman,
apparently
yes.
Watch this
site.
, 
