History Through Twitter: At UN, From Rwanda Genocide To Ben Ali and Haiti Cholera, Ladsous' Online Life Part I

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 10 -- While the UN is supposed to be about transparency and work for the public good, UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row in the position, has repeatedly refused to answer Inner City Press questions about Haiti, Sudan,Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Video compilation here. 

  What's behind this?

  It's a story that can also be told in tweets. Before as exposed by Inner City Press he became a last minute replacement for Jereome Bonnafont, France's first pick to succeed Alain Le Roy, Ladsous' name had only rarely appeared on Twitter.

  The earliest was on March 26, 2009 on the French site and feed @ExPatLive.com, linking to a video now disappeared from the Internet. 

  Ladsous had previously been France's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, during the 1994 Rwanda genocide when he argued for the escape of genocidaires into Easter Congo. More on that as this series progresses: the belated recognition of Ladsous' role and conflict of interest have become more prominent in online mentions of him.

  On November 29, 2010 the feed @EurActivFR noted Ladsous had taken over as the chief of staff for soon to be disgraced French foreign minister Michèle Alliot-Marie. 

  In that capacity, and before Alliot-Marie had to resign for taking flights on aircraft of cronies of Tunisian dictator Ben Ali, Ladsous was said to dress down Syrian Ambassador Lamia Chakkour, according to the feed @RatTatTata.

  The irony or hypocrisy of this, while Ladsous was arranging flights for Alliot-Marie on Air Ben Ali, was later noted by Inner City Press -- Ladsous began to refuse to answer.

  The first flurry of tweeting about Ladsous was on September 2, 2011 when the UN named him as head of peacekeeping. The first choice Bonnafont had already started receiving congratulation cards at UN Headquarters, as put online by Inner City Press. 

  But Bonnafont's bragging in India, where he was France's Ambassador, about getting the post led to him losing it. And Ladsous, already twice rejected when Jean-Marie Guehenno and then Alain Le Roy were selected, was pushed in by Sarkozy.

   Even that morning, the French mission was saying it would be Bonnafont. When Inner City Press exposed this, Agence France Presse made a complaint to the UN Correspondents Association, on whose Executive Committee Inner City Press then sat. 

  This bogus complaint led to a lengthy kangaroo court process, to Inner City Press quitting UNCA and co-founding the new Free UN Coalition for Access, @FUNCA_info. But it's worth noting: Ladsous had previously served on a management board of AFP.

  From the first day, there were questions that went unanswered. What WAS Ladsous' role in Haiti when Aristide was deposed? This unanswered question, tweeted by Inner City Press, continues to reverberate.

  When Ladsous held his first press conference on October 13, 2011, Inner City Press asked him about Haiti, Air Ben Ali and most of all Rwanda, what he did and said during the genocide.

  This is when Ladsous began to refuse to answer or even take Inner City Press' questions -- he would make this policy formal in May 2012, just after UNCA began its kangaroo court proceeding against Inner City Press. That's why they call it the UN Censorship Alliance.

  But 2011 ended with Ladsous avoiding and canceling question and answer stakeouts of the type Guehenno and Le Roy routinely did. Ladsous refused to say if Sudan flew militias from Darfur to Blue Nile state (later in a study),whether Jau is in Sudan or South Sudan, and was dismissive even then of the claims of those killed by UN Peacekeeping bringing cholera to Haiti. Things would only get worse: this is Part I. Watch this site.

   

France Wants Ladsous' DPKO to Brief on DRC, Stonewalled on M23, Mai Mai

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 17 -- France called an emergency briefing of the UN Security Council for 3 pm on Saturday in New York, not on Gaza but apparently in support of a final push against the M23 mutineers by the DR Congo army assisted by UN "Peacekeeping."

  On November 13, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky about the public statement by M23 that the DR Congo government had broken a ceasefire in place.

Inner City Press: M-23 group has said that there had been this formal or informal ceasefire in effect with the Government; they claim that it is now, the Government has broken it, they say, by attacking them in Kitagoma, does MONUSCO [United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo] know about this attack? Is that the sequence or is it not the sequence, and if, if there was an attack did they play any role in it?

Spokesperson Nesirky: I will come back to you on that. I don’t have anything specific at the moment, but I will come back to you.

  But neither Nesirky or the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, which is headed by the fourth Frenchman in a row Herve Ladsous and managed MONUSCO, came back with any answer.

  Rather, on November 16 Nesirky read out a DPKO statement about attacks in involving the M23. Inner City Press asked about another attack in the same time period by a non-M23 group, the Mai Mai, which killed civilians and emptied the town of Pinga:

Inner City Press: on the DRC, the report of this fighting with the M23, I wanted to just ask you if MONUSCO or if you are aware or have something to say on, there is reportedly fighting in the town of Pinga, also in northern Kivu. Doctors without Borders say it has had to pull its staff out again, and they say that a UN peacekeeper from South Africa was injured by an attack by the Mayi Mayi militia, and I just wonder, do you have anything on that? Are there groups other than M23 attacking this time and… and is there any connection between these attacks?

Spokesperson: Well, there was an incident a couple of days ago and, I believe, in which one or maybe two South African peacekeepers were hurt. Let me check on the details of that. I don’t have any specific details on the location that you mentioned beyond the ones that I have spoken about just now.

  But Nesirky and Ladsous' DPKO never came back with any information about this other attack. If it's not M23, it doesn't fit into Ladsous' (and France's) narrative, one notices.

  Now Ladsous' DPKO is to brief, after it didn't provide simple answers to simple questions about the DRC all week. After a Security Council meeting this week, when Ladsous came out Inner City Press put a question to him. He looked but refused to answer.

  In fact, Ladous has refused to answer any Press questions since May, citing "insulting innuendo." 

  These apparently include Ladsous role arranging flights for disgraced French foreign minister Aliot-Marie in aircraft of cronies of Tunisian dictator Ben Ali, and before that as French Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN in 1994 during the Rwanda genocide.

   Is this the man who should be briefing on DRC, or heading DPKO? Watch this this site.

Footnote: the set-up here seems similar to the way France used DPKO in Cote d'Ivoire. Should France head DPKO, or do briefings like this? Why not have the UK give a single UNSC briefing on the Malvinas / Falkland Islands? Or another P5 member do the briefing on Gaza? But this last already...

As Ban Ki-moon Heads to Seoul, ICP's Told of 1000s Disappeared in DPRK Camps

By Matthew Russell Lee

 

UNITED NATIONS, October 27 -- Two days before UN Secretary General set out for South Korea to receive the Seoul Peace Prize, the Chair of UN system's Working Group on Enforced Disappearances, Olivier de Frouville, held a joint press conference at the UN in New York.

   Inner City Press asked about the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or North Korea. Video here, from Minute 46:21.

    The Working Group on Enforced Disappearances' most recent annual report lists the cases of "Jeong-Woong Choi, Won Hwang and Dong-Ki Lee who were allegedly abducted while on board of Korean Airlines flight YS-11, flying from Gangneung City to Seoul’s airport" and says "the Government transmitted three communications to the Working Group, dated 9 February, 9 May and 12 September 2011, in which it replied to nine outstanding case."

  When Inner City Press asked about these cases, Olivier de Frouville said there has been no progress, "it looks bigger than us... it's really a matter of how in the future the DPRK could be ready to cooperation with us. At moment there's no dialogue on those issues."

   He also told Inner City Press, as something of an aside, that the Working Group "received recently very serious and credible allegation the number of persons effectively disappeared in camps are by thousands."

   When will this be reported on? As Inner City Press asked the UN about in August 2012 without much answer, Ban Ki-moon noted in a recent visit to Korea that "the UN has appointed a special envoy to handle North Korean human rights issues, but the communist country refuses to let him visit. He also said he 'actively took part' in getting the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to denounce the detentions and urge North Korea to release the women, in May."

  After that quote, at the August 15 noon briefing Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesman Eduardo Del Buey, what was his involvement? Maybe you’ll know or you can find – what was his involvement in that Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions?

 
  When 5 pm hit on the next day August 16, and no information had been provided, an article was called for.

  This is increasingly a problem in the UN, among top Ban Ki-moon officials. Ban's Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous has taken to refusing to answer any Press questions, due to what he calls (without defining) "insulting insinuations." 

  Tellingly, Ladsous was chosen by France for the post -- which has apparently been assigned to that country. This was without so much as an interview to vet him on his statements as France's deputy UN ambassador during the Rwanda genocide, or his arranging of disgraced ex-French foreign minister Michele Aliot-Marie's flights with cronies of Tunisian dictator Ben Ali.

   Now Ladsous proposes the UN use drones, without being willing to answer Press questions on any safeguards.

  So what is being done about this report of thousands disappeared in DPRK work camps? We'll see.

 

Footnote: Ban's trip to Seoul coincides with the impending arrival of hurricane Sandy in New York. Already, for example, Amnesty International has canceled an event on Monday, October 29 -- a day on which an all day Security Council debate is scheduled on Women, Peace and Security. Will it go forward?

Ladsous Bases His Non-Answers on "Insulting Insinuations," Drones & Rwanda, Haiti to Ben Ali

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 22 -- When UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous was asked two questions on Sudan by Inner City Press on Monday, his only reply was: "Mister I told you already that I would answer your questions when you stop making insulting insinuations about me." Video here, at Minute 26:22.

 There was no insinuation in the questions Inner City Press asked, which concerned a deadly attack on UNAMID peacekeepers in Darfur, and whether Ladsous' peacekeepers in their logistics base in Southern Kordofan are able to at least observe and report on human rights violations. Video here, from Minute 25:40.

  So Ladsous must be referring to some earlier "insulting insinuation" which he didn't specify, and which Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky, when asked to confirm that Ladsous is conditioning answered on receiving positive coverage, could not or would not specify.

   What could these "insulting insinuations" be?

  In March 2012, Inner City Press exclusively reported that Ladsous had proposed DPKO use of drones to the General Assembly's C-34 committee on peacekeeping, a proposal that a number of delegations criticized to Inner City Press. 

  Does Ladsous not answer member states "insulting" questions about drones?

  Back on September 2, 2011 Inner City Press first reported on Ladsous as last minute replacement DPKO chief for Jerome Bonnafont. On August 20, Inner City Press published a card of congratulation directed to Bonnafont at the UN in New York from French Senator Jean-Marie Bockel.

   Owning UN Peacekeeping is useful to France: just this week in Paris, Nicolas Sarkozy bragged of his country's military action in Cote d'Ivoire as well as Libya. As reflected in documents exclusively obtained and published by Inner City Press, France has no problem using DPKO to advance its economic interests, click here for examples.

   On October 13, 2011, Ladsous refused to answer Inner City Press' questions about, among other things, his time and statements as French Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN during the Rwanda genocide in 1994, his statement on removing Aristide from Haiti, and having arranged the flights of disgraced French foreign minister Michele Aliot-Marie on airplanes owned by cronies of Tunisian dictator Ben Ali.

   In March 2012, after Inner City Press exclusively reported that Ladsous had proposed DPKO use of drones to the C-34, it was confirmed, but Ladsous was then allowed to dodge questions about it.

  On May 29, 2012, emboldened, Ladsous announced on UN TV that he would not answer any Inner City Press questions, including that day's on Haiti cholera and accepting a Sri Lankan alleged war criminal as an advisordue to previously "insults" -- seemingly, those above. He had since refused to answer short, polite questions ranging from Abyei (video) to Lebanon, mercenaries and the Democratic Repubilc of the Congo to, on October 22, Darfur.

   As Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Nesirky, is this appropriate? For a UN official getting paid -- tax free -- with public taxpayer money? This is Ban's UN's freedom of the press? Watch this site.

Ladsous' Contempt for Press Is Allowed by Corrupt UN, Endive Could Have the Job

By Matthew Russell Lee

 

UNITED NATIONS, September 18 -- This UN has ceded its top Peacekeeping job to France, and so anyone that country nominates is put in charge.

  France could send a vegetable, an endive, and he would be given a staff, a military adviser, and spokespeople. He could refuse to answer or even acknowledge hard questions - heck, he could slobber and fall on the floor - and still he would have the job. That is the UN.

  So it has been with Herve Ladsous. The last three heads of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations have been from France, and so then-President Nicolas Sarkozy was given le droit to name the fourth.

  Sarkozy chose Jerome Bonnafont, a flashy French diplomat then Ambassador to India. But Bonnafont made the mistake of bragging that he had the job, and Inner City Press heard and reported it. Suddenly Bonnafont was out, and without any interview, without any review, bland bureaucrat Herve Ladsous was given the job.

  What were Ladsous' credentials? He had arranged the flights of Michele Aliot-Marie on planes of cronies of Tunisian dictator Ben Ali. Aliot-Marie left in disgrace: but Ladsous was sent to the UN.

  Here, when asked about the Tunisia flights, he refused to answer. He soon proposed another form of flight for the UN, the use of drones, but wouldn't say who would get the information gathered by the drones. Then he decided that the Press which asked these questions would be cut off - until he either shifted to positive coverage, or was banished.

  But that's not how it's supposed to work, at least under the First Amendment. And so questions kept being asked -- about a politicized pull-out from Syria, about cholera in Haiti, about peacekeepers' negligence and even recruitment of murderous militias in the Congo -- and Ladsous just kept refusing to answer or even to acknowledge the questions. Video here, from Minute 5:06.

  Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson's office tried to say this didn't matter, they would get answers for DPKO. But this substitution didn't work. Former UN Department of Field Support boss Susana Malcorra became Ban's chief of staff, and still nothing changed.

  Basically, once a top UN position has been ceded to a Permanent Five member of the Security Council, they can send anyone. Anyone at all. It undermines any concept of meritocracy or transparency at the UN. But that doesn't seem to matter. Ladsous came to run the UN's main department into the ground, and he has been worse for the UN than having NO ONE in the job. But France voted for Ban Ki-moon so they get the job, and they chose Ladsous.

   But wasn't it Sarkozy who chose Ladsous? What does Francois Hollande say? What does Jan Eliasson say? Many others are bought in, or are ignoring the Ladsous circus -- but some aren't. Watch this site.

Ladsous Refuses to Answer on Militia or "Lost Faith" in DPKO Under His Watch

By Matthew Russell Lee

 

UNITED NATIONS, September 18 -- After the MONUSCO peacekeeping mission under his command assisted a meeting to recruit one militia to fight another in the Congo, the UN's Herve Ladsous openly refused to answer any questions about it.

  Ladsous, in fact, pretended that the question was not asked, saying even as the question was being asked, "No other questions?" Video here, from Minute 5:06. Afterward another UN official said Ladsous' too-ample paychecks should be cut.

   "If he can't answer questions about the peacekeeping missions he supervises he should go," the official said. "He's obviously not cut out for this."

   Minutes before Ladsous' stakeout where he selected only the questions he liked, Inner City Press put a MONUSCO question to Peter Wittig, this month's Security Council president. Wittig, who it should be noted is NOT paid by the UN, took and answered the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (thus, Ladsous) question, as he had a question on Yemen by Inner City Press earlier in the day.

  About the Congo peacekeeping mission overseen by Ladsous, Uganda's foreign minister Henry Okello Oryem told reporters, during Ladsous' uninspiring trip, that the International Conference for the Great Lakes Region "has lost faith in MONUSCO [the UN peacekeeping mission in the Congo]. If it was doing its job with its large numbers and budget, - I don't think we would still have the crisis in the DRC today."

  When Inner City Press asked about this (video here from Minute 3:43) Wittig answered diplomatically that the engagement of neighboring countries is welcome:

"We take note of the engagement of the region -- which is something positive and the International Conference of the Great Lake Region has been engaging in that crises. And that a priori is a very positive development. We also take note of their suggestion -- that has been mentioned today -- to explore the possibility of a neutral force. That, of course, has to be discussed when the time comes. But I think all of us welcome regional engagement that helps to solve that crisis in the DRC."

   A substantive response should come from Ladsous, who is paid to oversee and answer for MONUSCO, one of the largest missions placed, however unwisely, under his command. But it did not. Ladsous' usual spokesman Kieran Dwyer, seen earlier in the afternoon, was not the one Tuesday playing m.c. at Le Show de Herve Ladsous: it was a different spokesman. What type of spokesperson goes along with this? More importantly, what type of "public" organization accepts and enables this?

   We are compelled to repeat: when he was France's Deputy Permanent Representative in the UN Security Council in 1994, he defended the Rwanda genocidaires.

   This, along with questions about statement concerning Aristide leaving Haiti and setting up flights for Michele Aliot-Marie on planes of cronies of Tunisia dictator Ben Ali were put to Ladsous when he took the DPKO job, and he could have answered them. But he refused.  Perhaps he thinks the UN is a privately owned company. Perhaps that is where he should work.

   There are other Congo questions for Ladsous. What was the body count when MONUSCO used helicopter gunships and rockets in North Kivu?

   Ladsous since May-- why it was May is another story -- has said he will not answer Press questions such as these. While this goes back to Inner City Press' factual reporting on how Ladsous was switched for prior nominee Jerome Bonnafont, it became Ladsous' "policy" after unanswered questions about his proposal that the Department of Peacekeeping Operations use drones.

  Who would get the information gathered by Ladsous' drones? All 193 member states? Only the 15 Security Council members? Only the Permanent Five? Only France? The questions have yet to be answered.

  What does it say about Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that this is his chief of peacekeeping, that he allows this? Watch this site.