By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, April 17 -- During the day-long UN Security Council debate on sexual violence in conflict there was a lot of talk about accountability, but none for Herve Ladous, the UN Peacekeeping chief who stonewalled on the 126 rapes in Minova for at least four months.
German Permanent Representative Peter Wittig, for example, said that perpetrators have to be held accountable, and that journalists who report on sexual violence in conflict are at risk.
Well, the UN's Ladsous refused Press questions on the Minova rapes on November 27, December 7 and December 18 (when he had the UN Television microphone grabbed by his spokesman).
Still, France's statement (so far only in French) blathered that
“En République démocratique du Congo, les violences sexuelles, en dépit de la mobilisation de la communauté internationale, restent omniprésentes. Commises par toutes les parties, elles se perpétuent aussi au sein des forces armées congolaises, notamment en raison des lacunes du processus de filtrage, de sélection et de formation des ex-milices intégrées aux forces congolaises. La réponse au drame de Minova doit être exemplaire. Les autorités congolaises doivent faire plus et plus vite pour punir les coupables.”
Vite? (Fast?) Ladsous did nothing for months. And it is France who put Ladsous in place. He is the fourth Frenchman in a row to head up UN Peacekeeping. Even if France wants to “own” the Department, it could and still should send someone else, including on this issue.
A well placed Secretariat staffer told Inner City Press this was just a precursor for June; there were a lot of calls for women protection advisers but none yet in the field.
The final speaker was Syria -- not Permanent Representative Ja'afari, with whom Inner City Press spoke about the draft General Assembly resolution, here -- accusing Qatar and Turkey of providing Syrian rebels with “media support.”
And thus the stage was set for the next two days of Syria meetings in the Security Council. Watch this site.
