UNITED
NATIONS,
January 22, updated
Jan 23 --
While the UN
Security
Council was meeting
on January 22
about Cyprus,
unannounced
Herve Ladsous
the head of UN
Peacekeeping
went into the
Council with
two staff
members. While
Ladsous
has said he
has a policy
against
answering
Press
questions,
other Council
sources told
Inner City
Press the
topic:
"drones."
Only a week
ago, one of
Ladsous'
drones crashed
in the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo.
Multiple
Council
sources told
Inner City
Press that on
January 22,
Ladsous spun
the crash as
no more than a
"hard landing"
-- not what
even the UN
spokesperson's
office said --
and said he'd
have five
drones in the
Congo in
April.
One asked:
what happened
to three? [See
update below.]
And where does
Ladsous want
to go next? At
least one
Council member
told Inner
City Press
that Ladsous'
drone-show was
impressive.
Rwanda, which
continues to
question when
Ladsous'
MONUSCO
mission will
go after the
Hutu FDLR
militia, asked
about the use
of drones in
this regard.
They say when
UN envoy
Martin Kobler
met with the
diplomatic
corps in
Kinsasha
earlier this
week, he was
pressed for
what evidence
he had for
this claims,
quickly
repeated by
Reuters, about
the M23. Only
the often
dubious Group
of Experts
report?
Others have
said MONUSCO
can always
point at the
Congolese
authorities'
lack of will
to go after
the FDLR as
their own
excuse. We'll
have more on
this.
With last
week's news
that a Selex
ES Falco drone
procured by UN
Peacekeeping
under Herve
Ladsous has
crashed, we
turned back
the clock.
On August
5, 2013,
Inner City
Press reported
that the
Selex ES Falco
had a history
of crashes,
from Pakistan
to Wales
and asked, how
then was it
selected?
There was
little
transparency
-- Ladsous has
a "policy" of
not answering
Press
questions;
peacekeeping
procurement,
particularly
but not only
threw "Letters
of Assist"
such as those
France got, is
opaque.
In
Pakistan
last year:
"an Unmanned
Aerial Vehicle
(UAV) of
Pakistan Air
Force (PAF)
crashed near
PAF Mureed
base during a
test-flight
mission due to
a reported
technical
fault, some
kilometres
away from the
district
Mianwali in
Punjab... The
crashed UAV
was identified
as SG Falco-I
(Selex), a
sophisticated
PAF
surveillance
drone equipped
with the
latest stealth
and
surveillance
features."
Before
that
in Wales:
"a drone spy
plane has
crashed just
weeks after an
Unmanned
Aerial Vehicle
test centre
was launched
in West Wales.
The crash,
involving a
Selex Falco
unmanned
plane, has
raised fears
about the
safety of
testing
unmanned
aircraft in
the skies over
Ceredigion and
Pembrokeshire.The
crash happened
at the Parc
Aberporth UAV
centre near
West Wales
Airport in
Ceredigion,
where new
craft being
tested include
drone planes
capable of
delivering
missiles."
So how
was the Selex
ES Falco
chosen? On
July 31, with
the UN then as
now allowing
its Herve
Ladsous to
conceal which
units of the
Congolese Army
he is aiding,
on
July 31,
Inner City
Press asked
the UN who won
its contract
for drones:
Inner
City Press:
Ladsous
announced
during the
Bastille Day
in France that
the drone
contract had
been signed.
I’ve checked
various
databases that
are publicly
available.
What’s the
company that
won? And if
it’s not yet
public, how
could the UN
be signing a
contract
declaring a
winner and not
have it be
public? Is it
public and
what is the
name of the
company?
Spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky: I
will check. I
don’t believe
it is
public...Yes,
Evelyn?
Question:
Just to be
certain the
drones that
are being used
are for
observation
This
last is a
point Ladsous
drone-like
makes: he, his
mission and
the drones are
not offensive.
To not parrot
that,
according to
Ladsous, is
"innuendo," a
basis to
explicitly
refuse to
answer Inner
City Press'
questions. Video compilation here.
The
Office of the
Spokesperson
for Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
provides
answers
between noon
briefing to
some media,
notably
Reuters as
well as
Ladsous'
favorite,
Agence France
Presse
(Ladsous
served on one
of AFP's
management
boards.)
But on
this who won
the drone
contract
question,
neither
Nesirky nor
his office got
back to Inner
City Press.
Twenty four
hours later at
the August 1
noon briefing,
Nesirky
read out this
answer:
I was
asked [and]
the UN
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations can
confirm that
it has reached
the final
stage of the
procurement
process in
relation to
the trial use
of unmanned
aerial
vehicles,
UAVs, by its
Mission in the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo
(MONUSCO). The
selected
vendor is the
Italian
company SELEX
ES. The UAV is
known as the
“FALCO” and is
designed to be
a
medium-altitude,
medium-endurance
surveillance
platform
capable of
carrying a
range of
payloads,
including
several types
of
high-resolution
sensors. Of
course, its
payload does
not include
weapons.
When
Spokesperson
Nesirky was
further
elaborating
that final
point of
Ladsous', and
Inner City
Press asked to
follow up,
Nesirky
refused. He
had given
others two
rounds of
questions, but
refused to
Inner City
Press.
Now
these question
must be
answered,
particularly
given the
history of
crashes by the
Selex Falco
documented and
raised
(including h/t
by a source
the UN's
former Group
of Experts
chief Steve
Hege tried
to intimidate
by listing in
his last
report): how
was the Selex
Falco
selected? How
many other
companies bid?
How much is
the UN
spending? Who
would run the
drones? Who
would get the
information?
Watch this
site.
Update
of January 23,
2014: Inner
City Press at
the day's noon
briefing asked
of Ladsous
calling the
crash a "hard
landing," and
about five
drones. Later
this arrived,
which we
publish in
full:
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