Showing posts with label Essoungou. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Essoungou. Show all posts

Saturday, July 6, 2013

After Meeting ICC Indicted Omar al Bashir, UN's Ladsous Tells AFP “I Cannot Accept Impunity," No DRC Answers


By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, July 6 -- For UN Peacekeeping, Herve Ladsous has been the worst of both worlds.
  He is soft on France's historic and colonial allies -- thearmy of Chad which recruits child soldiers, the army of the Democratic Republic of Congo and militias they support, on the rapes in Minova and most recently the Group of Experts report the full text of which Inner City Press exclusively put online.
  To try to make up for or cover it that up, Ladsous now talks and plays rough, bragging about a killing in Darfur and “keeping the body.” This is not the UN; at least, it is not what the UN is supposed to be. But it is what Ladsous is turning UN Peacekeeping into.
At the UN's July 5 noon briefing, Inner City Press asked about Ladsous' extraordinary and ghoulish quote in Khartoum, where he met ICC indictee Omar al Bashir, that a “UNAMID patrol...kept a body of one of the assailants.” But even worse was coming. From the UN's transcript:
Inner City Press: Mr. Ladsous said of an attack on a UNAMID patrol in East Darfur that the UN kept the body of one of the assailants and hopes to identify, using that body, the gunmen who attacked the peacekeepers. And I just wonder, is that common? What's the legality of keeping the body of an opposing, I guess of an assailant?
Associate Spokesperson Farhan Haq: Well, regarding the question of the body... one assailant was killed and the body was handed over to Government authorities.
  Then Agence France Presse, among with Reuters at the UN Ladsous' go-to place for unquestioning coverage or mere transcription of what he says, ran an interview -- exclusive, to be sure -- of Ladsous in Khartoum.
AFP allowed Ladsous to say, without any question, that "I cannot accept impunity.” This is laughable. When two units of the Congolese Army which Ladsous' DPKO supports, the 41st and 391st Battalions, committed 135 rapes at Minova in November, Ladsous spend four months trying to cover it up.
Ladsous refused to answer any Press questions about it. He took AFP,Reuters and Voice of America (which on July 5 mis-reported Nyala as “Nyla”) into the hallway for a private briefing after which nothing was reported about the Minova rapes. Video here.
Even when forced to say something about the rapes, he did it to favored scribes -- and then didn't follow through, continuing DPKO support to the units even thought only two soldiers have been arrested, for 135 rapes. Ladsous very much CAN and does accept impunity.
A week ago Inner City Press asked all four of Ladsous' spokespeople -- Kieran Dwyer, Andre-Michel Essoungou, Josephine Guerrero and Anayansi Lopez -- a simple question.
Inner City Press asked whether Congolese Army units listed in the Group of Experts report the full text of which Inner City Press exclusively put online, as credited by BBC and Bloomberg News, have received support from the UN's (and Ladsous') MONUSCO.
That same day receipt was acknowledged by Anayansi Lopez and a DPKO answer promised. A week later, nothing. The question has been put MONUSCO, by the new Free UN Coalition for Access, through @FUNCA_info. MONUSCO like other missions has become less responsive under Ladsous than previously under Le Roy or even Jean-Marie Guehenno. This is Ladsous' UN Peacekeeping, and its approach to impunity. Watch this site.
  
Posted by at

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

On Report of DR Congo Army Rape & Torture, UN Stonewalls Inner City Press 3 Days & Counting: #Ladsous2013


By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, July 2 -- Does the UN probe abuses by its partners in the Congolese Army or try to cover them up?
  More than three days have passed since Inner City Pressexclusively published the full text of the new Group of Experts report, including details of Congolese Army involvement in rape, torture, child soldier recruitment andtrade of conflict gold.
  On June 29, Inner City Press asked four spokespeople of UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous to answer a simple question: does Ladsous' DPKO provide support to the units links to these abuses.
  Several of the spokespeople had “out of office” auto-responders. Kieran Dwyer's said he is gone until July 16, but for media inquiries to contact Andre-Michel Essoungou.
  The spokesperson who did on June 29 acknowledge receipt, when asked again on July 1 replied, “We are looking into your questions... We'll add the new [FARDC units] and get back to you as soon as possible.”
Inner City Press: a couple of questions about the Democratic Republic of Congo. One, there is South African article today saying that the South African troops that are part of MONUSCO would become part of the intervention brigade, but there is some memorandum of understanding that is yet to be signed. I’d heard that it was all systems go with the intervention brigade, are there documents that were meant to be signed and what are the issues that are holding it up?
Deputy Spokesperson: Well, we’ll have to check on that for you, Matthew.
Inner City Press: And I wanted to ask you whether DPKO has provided you any answers to the various battalions and regiments that I asked them about Saturday, I asked you about yesterday, just to know, yes or no, whether MONUSCO works with those units.
Deputy Spokesperson: No, I have got no reply on that.
  Why not? How can DPKO have a conditionality policy without knowing -- and disclosing -- which units it works with?
  Meanwhile Radio Okapi, which has many committed workers but which is controlled by the UN misison MONUSCO, has confined the Group of Experts report to its “Media Review.”
    Bloomberg News in Kinshasa credits Inner City Press for the exclusive publication of the full text report, here. The new Free UN Coalition for Access, interested in the responsiveness and objectivity of UN (social) media, hastwice asked Radio Okapi when it itself will dig into the Group of Experts report. So far, no answer.
  And with Roger Meece gone, and Martin Kobler not coming until August, @FUNCA_info's questions to MONUSCO have gone unanswered. 
   What a bad time to leave a mission without a chief.Then again, see what Ladsous has done with DPKO, video here. Watch this site.
  
Posted by at

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

While Ladsous Covers Up DRC Army's 126 Minova Rapes, Reuters Channels His Mic Grabber Spokesman



By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, April 2 -- How low will UN Peacekeeping under Herve Ladsous go to sweep under the carpet the 126 rapes in Minova by its partners in the Congolese Army? 
  How far will media “partners” go in helping Ladsous claim he got assurances that he refuses to disclose, even to them?This far.
   On March 28 Inner City Press asked at the noon briefing about the rapes. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky said a deadline for action of April 1 had been set, and had been reiterated by Ladsous to Congolese foreign minister Tshibanda on March 27.
  But later on March 28 when Inner City Press put the question twice to Ladsous on UN Television he refused to answer. And while Tshibanda did answer Inner City Press' question about the rape, he was dismissive of the UN's ultimatum.
  But after Inner City Press asked again at the UN noon briefing on April 1, now Ban's deputy spokesman Eduardo Del Buey said that some unspecified assurances had been given. He said the UN was waiting for official notification, and said the deadline was at midnight.
  After midnight Inner City Press wrote to Del Buey and to Nesirky, on European time in Andorra with Ban Ki-moon, asking what the assurances were, or what the UN would do.Neither sent any answer.
  So at noon Inner City Press asked Del Buey again. He reiterated the previous day's comment, that assurances were given but he would not or could not say what they were.
Other than a sign of further UN stonewalling it didn't seem newsworthy, having written the exact same story the day before with Del Buey's identical noon briefing answer to Inner City Press.
  But after the noon briefing, Reuters published a story with no criticism or analysis of the delay by UN Peacekeeping, using exactly the quote Del Buey gave the day before -- but this time put in the mouth of Ladsous' spokesman Andre-Michel Essoungou.
  Where did Essoungou say or type and e-mail exactly the same thing as Del Buey said at the previous day's noon briefing? The story doesn't say.
  In fact, when Inner City Press asked the question of the Minova rapes on November 27 on UNTV, Ladsous refused to answer it and summoned favored scribes, including Louis Charbonneau of Reuters the author of the April 2 story, into the hall for a private briefing. Video here. Should that have been mentioned? Reasonable minds may disagree. Watch this site.
Posted by at

Monday, December 24, 2012

UN Peacekeeping's Ladsous Fiddles As Copter Burns, Offers Photos Only to Western Wires, Hurts DPKO



By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 23 -- The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations is headed by a former spokesman for the French ministry of foreign affairs, but its professionalism, transparency and credibility have plummeted in the second half of 2012 under Herve Ladsous.

  Most recently on December 21, minutes after the Security Council issued a press statement condemning the shooting down of a DPKO helicopter by South Sudan, killing four Russian crew members, DPKO's spokesman Andre-Michel Essoungou e-mailed out "an interactive timeline to look back at the milestones of 2012. We’d be grateful if you could have a look."

  Three days earlier at the direction of Herve Ladsous, Essoungou seized the boom microphone at the UN Television stakeout, to prevent questions to Ladsous about mass rapes by DPKO's partners in the Congolese Army, and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's supposed Human Rights Due Diligence Policy. Video here.

  This was called outrageous by many in the UN, including in the Security Council, but despite complaints the UN has yet to act.

  The problem is that no one dares tell Ladsous to do his job, since the post belongs to France and outgoing French president Nicolas Sarkozy dumped Ladsous into the job as a last minute replacement for Jerome Bonnafont, after Ladsous had been rejected by previous Secretary General Kofi Annan.

  Ladsous openly favors the French, including also giving advance notice and questions to Agence France-Presse, on one of the boards of which Ladsous used to serve. Under Ladsous, DPKO despite its use of South Asian peacekeepers and Russian pilots has become fixated on Western wire services.

  Consider this UNPeacekeeping tweet, of photographs of Wau in South Sudan:

RT "@UNPeacekeeping: Photos: Protecting civilians in #Wau #SouthSudan http://ow.ly/geR6i For use in publication @washingtonpost @afp @ap @reuters @bw"

  Even if this doesn't mean what to some it seemed like -- that Ladsous' DPKO was offering photos only to these five Western media including AFP -- the choice of these five shows the bias and non-UN thinking of Ladsous' DPKO. So did Ladsous taking two of the five listed above into the hallway on November 27, to avoid questions about the Congolese Army rapes in Minova, video here.

   Substantively, Ladsous' refusal to answer Press questions since late May, when he sought take advantage of anti-Press moves that has begun in September 2011 by AFP, ironically about coverage of Ladsous being the last minute replacement for Bonnafont, has hurt the Ban Ki-moon administration, for example leaving Ban's Human Rights Due Diligence Policy unexplained and not credible.

   But who would replace Bonnafont? The way the UN works, one thinks it could only be the French. Watch this site.
Posted by at
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)