Conspicuously
absent from
the meeting,
and from the
UN during this
week of
scandal for
the Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations,
was the head
of DPKO, Herve
Ladsous. He
is, in the
French way, on
vacation;
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric told
Inner City
Press that Ladsous
had not even
spoken with
Ban about
the scandal.
When Ban
emerged from
the meeting,
he declined
press
questions,
pointing at
Dujarric who
was behind him
in the
entourage. But
Dujarric left
unanswered
basic requests
for
information,
such as how
many sexual
abuse
complaints
have been
filed against
UN missions in
DRC, Darfur
and Haiti.
The
goal, it
seems, was to
put the
scandal into
the past by
firing a
single
individual, Babacar
Gaye, the
head of the
mission in
CAR. (His
replacement,
Parfait
Onanga-Anyanga,
was already in
the August 13
meeting.)
Last month's
Security
Council
president told
the press that
this months
president, Joy
Ugwu of
Nigeria, would
be coming to
the UNTV
stakeout to
provide a
summary of the
meeting.
Then it was
said that Ogwu
would stakeout
along with the
US Ambassador,
Samantha
Power.
Then finally,
only Samantha
Power spoke. Video here.
Power's
new
spokesperson
pointedly
allowed only
three
questions,
from Reuters
(who she'd
called on for
Power's
most recent
stakeout on
August 7, here),
Associated
Press (which
also asked
about ISIS and
an upcoming
Arria formula
meeting about
LGTBI) and
finally... the
Wall Street
Journal.
Inner City
Press asked,
as it would
have asked Joy
Ogwu, if
making troop
contributing
countries
disclose
whether they
prosecute
suspects and
the results
was discussed.
Power's
spokesperson
said
pointedly,
I've already
called on
[Reuters.] The
rest of the
press corps
was there,
apparently,
just as extras
to make it
look
free-wheeling.
And so after
entirely
predictable
hand-picked
questions,
Inner City
Press asked
Power, on the
mass rapes in
Tabit in
Darfur, has
anything been
done? The
question was
perfectly
audible. But
there was no
answer.
Here's
why it's
important:
many on the
Security
Council
including the
US spoke a lot
about UN
Peacekeeping's
cover-up of
rapes in Tabit
in Darfur last
year. But nothing
has been done:
no one
disciplined,
much less
fired. If
there was no
follow through
on that, how
will there be
on this?
Relatedly,
while much is
made of trying
to get European
countries to
contribute
more troops to
UN
Peacekeeping,
the French
government did
nothing about
allegations
its soldiers
raped children
in CAR, which
that
government
received from
the UN's
Ander Kompass
in July 2014.
So how would
their
inclusion
automatically
make things
better?
These
are questions
that should be
answered, or
at least
allowed. These
are questions
that will be
pursued. Watch
this site.
, 
