By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, May 29 -- It was a solemn ceremony Wednesday at the UN, with Department of Peacekeeping Operations chief Herve Ladsous citing three examples of the least measure of sacrifice: the killing of Indian peacekeepers in Jonglei, those from Niger in western Cote d'Ivoire, and from Pakistan in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Particularly because this is serious, there are question that must be answered about each of these three, and others not mentioned by Ladsous, including recent killing in Abyei and kidnapping in the Golan. But Ladsous, for now, refuses to answer Press questions. See May 29 video, here and embedded below.
In Jonglei the question arose: why didn't the peacekeepers have a sufficient Armored Personnel Carrier?
In Cote d'Ivoire DPKO (of which Ladsous is the fourth French chief in a row) openly sided with French ally Ouattara, essentially covering up the killing of perceived Gbagbo supports in the Nahibly camp according to no less than Amnesty International.
In the Congo, Ladsous' own history as French Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in 1994, rebutting others to support the escape of genocidaires into the Eastern Congo, raises questions about his Mission's objectivity.
But if like Inner City Press you ask that question, Ladsous calls it "insinuation" and refuses any more. This has happened since last May -- one year now. He has refused questions on the introducing of cholera into Haiti, taking advice from an alleged war criminal, doing little to protect IDPs in Darfur.
Now on the Golan, he stands accused of knowing of involvement from Qatar in the kidnapping of UN peacekeepers. Will he answer? Watch this site.
