On UN Peacekeeping & Rapes, Inner City Press Asks Ladsous, He Denies 2-Tier, No Update on Central African Republic Rapes

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 2 -- After a screening of a film about UN Peacekeeping, “Last Station Before Hell,” which portrayed missions in Lebanon, DR Congo and Central African Republic, Inner City Press on December 2 asked UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous two questions.

 The first question was why French and other European troops serve alongside but not with UN peacekeepers, in Mali (including Germans and Slovakians now replacing French), Cote d'Ivoire and CAR. The second was for an update on the rape allegations against French and UN peacekeepers in CAR. Video here and embedded below.

  Ladsous, who has repeatedly outright refused to answer Inner City Press questions in the UN, did respond to the first question, denying there is a two-tier system and describing what some view as a vestige of colonialism: he listed the UK having a special interest in Sierra Leon, like France has in Mali, and a desire to serve under its own command.

Ladsous pointedly did NOT answer the request for any update on the sexual abuse allegations against Sangaris and MINUSCA, something pointed out afterward by a number of those in attendance at the International Peace Institute.

  One also noted this: while Ladsous trumpeted a number of female SRSGs in UN Peacekeeping, only that day one of them, Ellen Loj, was confined to speaking behind closed doors after Ladsous' public speech, and then followed his pattern of no comments to the media afterward, a come-down from her predecessor Hilde Johnson and even her own previous appearances. (Johnson, sources say, pursued the Somalia SRSG post that was given to Michael Keating.)

  One of Ladsous two fellow panelists at IPI, Lise Morjé Howard, an Associate Professor of Government, Georgetown University, answered Inner City Press that the French troops are not really peacekeepers but more akin to counter-insurgency forces.

Ladsous called France “the country I know best.” He is listed in UN Dispute Tribunal documents as having tried to fire, then to retaliate against, the whistleblower who revealed the allegations of child rape by French soldiers in CAR.

There's talk, even about the P5, of Ladsous being a liability who shouldn't remain even during Ban Ki-moon's remaining time. His non-answer on sexual abuse on December 2 is particularly noteworthy given his Septembr 11 on-camera linking of the CAR rapes to “R&R,” video here. We'll continue on this.

France Won't Compare Mali to Cote d'Ivoire, Yet, MONUSCO Goes Blue

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 27 -- After the Mali meeting of the UN Security Council, France's Gerard Araud came out and took questions from the Press. On Mali, Inner City Press asked if the so-called parallel force would be under UN control, who would pay for it, and how it would compare to France's parallel force in Cote d'Ivoire, the Force Licorne.

Araud said that this “didn't come up” but that it was a “real question,” to be discussed at another Council meeting next Tuesday. Other sources said there was grumbling because Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's report on Mali was, for this meeting, only in English.

A reporter from the US State Department asked Araud if he was “still shooting for April 15.” He laughed at the use of the term “shooting” applied to the situation in Mali, then said, “in April.”

On the Congo, Inner City Press asked how the concerns of Troop Contributing Countries like Guatemala and Pakistan were being addressed. Araud emphasized that the French draft is “in blue” and will be voted on tomorrow. He assumed that Pakistan and Guatemala will vote yes.

Inner City Press has inquired if there will be explanation of votes. “Or votes,” was the answer. Watch this site.

Mali Mission of UN's Ladsous Mirrors France in Cote d'Ivoire, Reuters UN Bureau as Plant

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 27 -- The plan for a “parallel” French force to rule Mali, alongside a Mission of UN Peacekeeping which is headed by the fourth Frenchman in a row, Herve Ladsous, shows how riddled with conflicts of interest and vestiges of colonialism the UN has become.

   Later today the UN Security Council will be briefed on the plan, with a vote slated for April.

   As Inner City Press reported on March 25, France which also “holds the pen” of the Council on the failed former (?) colony of the Central African Republic opposed following on CAR an African Union Communique listing seven Seleka and rebel leaders, including Seleka's Paris based spokesman, for a travel ban and asset freeze. 

 Because who knows better what's right for Africa than France?

  The parallel UN and French force proposed for Mali by Ladsous' DPKO is reminiscent of what France obtained in Cote d'Ivoire, with the Force Licorne running -- in short shorts -- alongside the UN Mission which it also through DPKO controlled.

  Recently Inner City Press asked Amnesty International's West Africa expert to assess the performance on human rights and accountability in Cote d'Ivoire, for crimes committed by the side the France favored and favors. AI called it appalling. 

   Why think it would be better in Mali?

  History is allowed to repeat itself in part because of the lazy and craven media coverage of the UN and its -- or Ladsous' and France's -- plans.

  Take for example the Reuters story by Michelle Nichols and Louis Charbonneau. It consists of mere re-types of the plan “written by Ban Ki-moon” -- who recently in connection with the launch of Tom Plate's book of breezy conversationsadmitted writing very very little. There is no analysis, much less of any conflict of interest by France.

Charbonneau, concerned UN reporter, shakes with Ban, Timermon not shown (c) Luiz Rampelotto

  On March 26, Charbonneau of Reuters was mocked by Argentina's foreign minister Timerman for asking what he clearly viewed as a planted UK question about the Malvinas -- or in Reuters' speak, Falkland -- Islands.

  Did Reuters mention this? Seems not. So why did Charbonneau go and demand the first (and failing that, second) question at the press conference of four ministers from Latin America? 

 To fly the limp flag of UNCA, the UN Cowardice Association of which he is first vice president and Concerned UN Reporter in chief. At least we can say, not only the UK but also France can be channeled. Watch this site.

UN Peacekeeping Not Dominated Only by France, Le Roy Says, Citing US in Haiti, UK in Sierra Leone, Not Just Cote d'Ivoire

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 4 -- As Alain Le Roy steps down from the top UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations post, to be replaced sources tell Inner City Press by another Frenchman Jerome Bonnafont, the question arises:

why does France seem to own DPKO and did it misuse its position in Cote d'Ivoire, working with its own Force Licorne to shoot at the Presidential Palace of Laurent Gbagbo?

At Le Roy's last briefing on August 4, Inner City Press asked him these questions and others. Video here, from Minute 17:15.

Le Roy replied that the action in Cote d'Ivoire was voted by the full Security Council. Then he responded to the idea that this is colonialism by pointing to other situations. "In Haiti," he said, "we were very pleased when the US forces came."

He mentioned British troops in Sierra Leone and, he said, troops of "France and Germany and some others" as the Artemis force in Ituri, Democratic Republic of Congo in 2003. Video here, from Minute 20:20.

Perhaps the question is not just limited to France, then: perhaps the UN's work in the field, particularly the peacekeeping missions voted on by the Security Council on which only five countries have permanent seats and veto power, is just powerful countries' foreign and military policies "on the cheap."

Inner City Press asked Le Roy about the inaction of Egyptian troops in Southern Kordofan and Zambian troops in Abyei when civilians there were being killed by the Sudanese Army. Le Roy said that the peacekeepers had done as best as they could, and claimed that those civilians who were returned to Kadugli town all did so by their own choice.

Later in the press conference, Le Roy belatedly admitted that Sudan's government had threatened to shoot at UN helicopters if they sought to evacuate dying Ethiopian peacekeepers from Abyei. Click here for that.

Le Roy has been more open to the press than most UN officials, repeatedly stopping on the steps outside the Security Council to answer Press questions. He is returning to an auditing job in Paris, and perhaps after that to another diplomatic assignment. He would not comment on the idea of Jerome Bonnafont or another Frenchman replacing him, saying "that is up to the S-G... it will be fine." But will it?

Footnote: Le Roy challenged the press to devote "one percent" to positive stories about UN peacekeeping, giving Liberia, Timor L'este, Lebanon and even Haiti and Cote d'Ivoire as the examples. Having visited UNAMID, UNMIS(S), MONUC / MONUSCO and even UNOCI, we'll remain on the lookout -- keep those cards and letters coming.

Leaked French Documents Show Cote d'Ivoire Strategy at UN of France on Liberia, Mali & Even San Francisco

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, April 8, updated -- With Cote d'Ivoire's defiant Laurent Gbagbo surrounded after French and UN military action in Abidjan's Cocody neighborhood, internal French government documents obtained by Inner City Press and published exclusively today paint a picture of France's communications with the UN Mission UNOCI, its analysis of the politics of Guillaume Soro, Liberia and the Malian press, even its recycling of a French diplomat arrested in New York as France's new general consul in San Francisco.

In the first document, France's Force Licorne (Unicorn) wrote to the Special Representative of the Secretary General about Gbagbo's import of heavy weapons. Click here to view. More recently, France is accused of violating the arms embargo by providing and facilitating weapons to the forces of Alassane Ouattara.

The second document is an internal French cable detailing the Financial Organization of the Rebellion, down to a “racket” of shaking down money for taxi licenses.

In the third document, France bemoans the failure of a visit of three African heads of state to Cote d'Ivoire, including Nigeria's Obasanjo and South Africa's Thabo Mbeki now active in Sudan, complaining that this situation can be prolonged until the international community decided to “impose a solution.”

In the fourth document, France analyzed and critiques South African policy toward Cote d'Ivoire and Gbagbo.

In the fifth document, France analyzes Liberia's foreign policy as pro-American. More recently, a purported interview of a Ouattara commander describing coordinating with a French citizen working with the UN Mission in Liberia has surfaced.

In the sixth document, France analyzes the “discrete attitude” of the Malian press.

In the largest set of documents published today -- there are more -- France details its work in the UN Security Council on resolutions concerning the UN mission UNOCI.

One of the French diplomats involved was Romain Serman, who was later arrested by the New York Police Department. See arrest sheet and signed statement, here. Then French Ambassador de la Sabliere, to “avoid a scandal,” sent Serman back to Paris.

But in 2010 he was re-assigned to the US, as general consul in San Francisco. And so it goes.

Update at 1pm, April 8: at the UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky to describe how UNOCI has allowed Licorne to lobby it and attend its meetings, and if other countries have been allowed.

Nesirky said he would not comment on leaked documents, and also directed Inner City Press to ask the (French) chief of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Alain Le Roy. Watch this site.