By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 22 --
Amid mounting
protests
against the UN
Mission
in the Congo,
from Bukavu to
Bunia to
Kinangani,
Herve Ladsous
the
man in charge
of UN
Peacekeeping
and the
Mission
refused to
answer
any questions
about the
protests, or
the Mission's
plans in
Bukavu,
in front of
the Security
Council on
Wednesday.
Now
UN personnel
have been
attacked and
UN buildings
burned down;
several
Congolese
protesters
have been shot
dead, at least
three
in Kisangani,
click here
(in
French, a la
Ladsous).
In
Bunia, at
least six were
killed, four
of them
students, click
here.
It
has been noted
that neither
Ladsous'
"MONUSCO or
the Congolese
Army fired
shots to stop
M23 from
taking over
Goma," and
then
Sake. But now
those
protesting the
inaction are
being shot and
killed.
On
Wednesday,
Inner City
Press
repeatedly and
clearly asked
Ladsous,
"What about
the protests
in Bunia and
Bukavu" and
Kinsangani and
"Would
MONUSCO
protest
Bukavu?"
Video
here, at
Minute 10:13,
13:25 and
especially
11:50.
But Ladsous
refused to
answer, and
his
spokesman
Kieran Dwyer
ordered the UN
Television
boom
microphone to
be given for "une
question en
Francais"
that did not
concern the
criticism of
Ladsous and
his Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations.
Ladsous'
refusal
to answer
particular
media's
questions is
not only
abnormal
and
distasteful --
it is, several
UN sources
say,
irresponsible.
Ladsous'
failure to
even try to
explain or
speak of the
protests,
when asked,
stands in
contrast to
the way the
vast majority
of
organizations,
private or
public, would
deal with such
threats to
their
personnel.
But,
as one UN
source put it,
"Ladsous has
put his
personal peeve
over
everything
else, even the
people he is
supposed to be
protecting."
The
rest of the UN
system under
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
blithely
carries on,
with the UN
for top
Humanitarian
official
Valerie Amos
and the refugee
agency UNHCR
sending out
messages for
example
calling on
"all
parties" to
"meet their
obligations"
in Eastern
Congo.
Many
say that
MONUSCO did
not meet its
obligations in
Goma and now
Sake --
where a
militia of
dubious human
rights
compliance is
now the one
fighting the
M23 mutineers
-- and that
Ladsous did
not meet his
obligations
not only to
Congolese but
to those he
was put in
charge
of serving.
And what will
happen next?
Watch this
site.
