By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, May 16 -- With UN peacekeepers repeatedly being kidnapped in the Golan Heights, and recently killed in Abyei and the Congo, Herve Ladsous the fourth French chief in a row of UN Peacekeeping has allowed his fear of the Press to mute the UN's message.
More peacekeepers have been grabbed in the Golan, but shockingly the UN itself put out no announcement. Rather, Ladsous summoned a few friendly scribes. The reporting was muted. Perhaps Ladsous is scared.
In the General Assembly on May 15, an email was waved from the podium about the UN -- "the highest levels of DPKO," UN Peacekeeping, as it turns out -- being aware of the role of Qatari intelligence and the Syrian opposition "ambassador" in Doha in the previous kidnapping of Filipino UN peacekeepers.
This is a serious charge, but neither the UN nor Ladsous have answered it. Now when more peacekeepers are grabbed, the UN says nothing, and Ladsous can summon only his few friends.
Click here for a view of Ladsous repeatedly refusing to answer Press questions about his job: about mass rape by his partners in the Congo, about how will disarm the MNLA in Mali, about his push for UN drones in former French colony Cote d'Ivoire.
Why did Ladsous stop answering Press questions? More than one Security Council ambassador now links it to the questions Inner City Press raised about Ladsous' role during the Rwanda genocide as France's Deputy Permanent Representative, defending and ensuring the escape of genocidaires into Eastern Congo.
It is obvious to many that such a person should never have been put in charge of UN Peacekeeping. And beyond his past, his current mis-handling of mission in more than one continent cry out for action, or resignation. There is a Twitter hashtag, now used as a justification for Ladsous' stonewalling: #LADSOUS2013. There is time. It must end. Watch this site.
