On Cote d'Ivoire, Ladsous' DPKO Stonewalls, Araud Says New Situation

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 10 -- When the UN's envoy to Cote d'Ivoire Bert Koenders came to the UN on July 18, his proposal and that of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations under Herve Ladsous was to cut costs by removing a battalion from Abidjan.

  Then an attack on a base there on the Ivorian National Dayresulted in at least seven soldiers killed, while separate sources tell Inner City Press that the Beninois UN Peacekeepers in the base did nothing. Ivorian source have blamed it on the mandate. Inner City Press asked the UN on August 8:

Inner City Press: This attack that took place in Abidjan, on an army base, killed seven soldiers. From what I learned yesterday, there seems to also be a UN peacekeeping base inside that base, with Beninois peacekeepers. A question arisen of why didn’t they take action, they were there but they didn’t act, and a UN News Service press release says that the attackers took ammunition and weapons from the base. So is it possible to know what are the terms of engagement of UN peacekeepers there? Why are they situated inside the Ivorian military base and why did they not act when the base was attacked?

Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: I will check with our colleagues in DPKO.

But more than two days later, no answers have been provided. DPKO chief Ladsous is on record that he will notanswer any Inner City Press questions.

And so when on August 10 on little notice French Ambassador Gerard Araud did a stakeout and took questions from those who knew, Inner City Press learned of it late and ran there and asked about Cote d'Ivoire, if a battalion would still be cut after the attack in Abidjan and the destruction of the camp near Duekoue.

Araud answered, although it is not clear if he was referring to the attack on the refugee camp of presumed supporters of Laurent Gbagbo when he referred to a "village" in the west. Araud said:

First I think, the first attack was against a village in the west of the country. Mr. Koender came afterward, he told us, it's not an isolated incident, we know that there are people preparing a sort of destabilization of Cote d'Ivoire. So there is, a change of posturing, deploy in a different manner.

Araud continued that, "We thought the threat was out of Abidjan, now we have seen what happened in Abidjan. In coming days we'll see if it's possible to reduce the force in Abidjan, or if it's not possible."

It would be good, now after more than two days, to get an answer from Ladsous' DPKO. Watch this site.

Seven Killed in Abidjan, 3 Weeks After UN Proposed Removing BattalionSeven Killed in Abidjan, 3 Weeks After UN Mission in Cote d'Ivoire Proposed Removing Battalion

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 7, updated -- The UN's state-media reporting of its concern about an attack in Abidjan which killed seven Ivorian soldiers is incomplete and therefore misleading.

  The UN says that the "head of UNOCI, Bert Koenders, strongly condemned the attack," without mentioned that it was less than three weeks ago that Koenders blithely proposed cutting a full battalion from Abidjan saying things are so much better there. Click here for that July 17 report by Inner City Press.

  If Koenders was so wrong in his assessment of conditions in the financial capital of Cote d'Ivoire, some ask why believe his denial of ONUCI wrongdoing during the deadly refugee camp attack here Duekoue? 

  An investigation had been promised, amid on the record quotes by survivors that ONUCI peacekeepers pushed them off trucks and back into the mob to be beaten.

  But two days after the promise, Koenders said everything was fine, denied all allegations of wrongdoing or even negligence. Even the UN's response to Inner City Press' was bungled, perhaps intentionally so, click here for that.

  While among a few well run UN mission there are others plagued by incompetence and complacency, the UN Mission in Cote d'Ivoire has had and still has a conflict of interest.

  The head of UN Peacekeeping is Herve Ladsous, the fourth time in a row the post has gone to a Frenchman. DPKO was used to oust French opponent Laurent Gbagbo after a tight election, and now the Mission has reportedly stood by while Gbagbo supporters, already in a camp, were attacked and at least six killed. 

  Then Koenders denies the allegations, and doesn't even take back his now clearly erroneous assessment of the situation in Abidjan.

   That the UN "reports" on itself often corrupting.  When it is done by or for DPKO, whose chief refuses to take Press questions based on critical coverage, it is even worse.

   Koenders, most than other SRSGs, seems to be taking all of his lead from Ladsous. Whom does it serve? Watch this site.

Update: further information comes in, not from DPKO, but from Ivorian source, who think the attack was to coincide with the National Day, which will be celebrated too at the UN in New York.

In Cote d'Ivoire, Choi Denies US or French Pressure or Blockage from Abobo

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 18 -- With the prospect of military intervention in Cote d'Ivoire looking less likely at least for now, UN envoy Choi Young-jin on Tuesday told the Press of other ways to get Laurent Gbagbo out of power, including cutting off pay to the country's 140,000 civil servants.

Inner City Press asked Choi about his involvement in such planning, and whether he was pressured or influenced by particular Security Council members. Video here, from Minute 16:45.

No, Choi insisted, planning funds cut-offs is not his mandate, and only the Ouattara camp pressured him, to let the initial announcement of Ouattara as the election's winner be announced at the UN. Choi says he refused, and requested more questions on the topic.

Numerous Security Council sources have described to Inner City Press a video briefing by Choi to the Council in its closed door consultations in which US Ambassador Susan Rice and French Ambassador Gerard Araud told Choi to go ahead and certify Ouattara as the winner, even before the Constitutional Council issued its ruling.

Choi twice denied that this happened. He also denied that he had been blocked from visiting the Abobo neighborhood where civilians were being killed. But even top UN peacekeeper Alain Le Roy acknowledges that Choi's convoy was stopped. It later proceeded. But describing things accurately is important.

Choi worked for the UN a decade ago in a peacekeeping logistical role. He is known to have complained that he was marginalized and not given enough power. Later, as South Korea's Permanent Representative to the UN, he helped engineer Ban Ki-moon's win at Secretary General.

Choi has been mentioned as coming back to New York to mastermind the race for a second Ban term, or perhaps being named to replace Vijay Nambiar as the UN's envoy to Myanmar. (His new posture as democracy advocate will probably not help.)

The Ban Ki-moon administration is “all in” on the campaign to replace Gbagbo. Some say they may have lost their way, forgetting that to talk about cutting off the salaries to 140,000 civil servants is hardly a UN thing to do, and that the UN is supposed to mediate, not to itself need a mediator.

But having gone down this road, will Team Ban now advocate for democracy in Tunisia, North Korea, Myanmar and elsewhere? We'll see.

Ban's Man Dodges ONUCI Sex Abuse Questions, Zero Said on Zero Tolerance

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press in Africa
www.innercitypress.com/unsc1onuci060908.html

IVORY COAST, June 9 -- A scandal of sexual abuse within the UN Mission in Cote d'Ivoire, ONUCI, became public on May 27, and at UN headquarters Assistant Secretary General Jane Holl Lute answered Inner City Press that the report would be taken very seriously, particularly because it alleged that the senior leadership of UNUCI was told of the abuse and did nothing.

On May 30, Burkina-Faso's Ambassador to the UN Michel Kafando, on the eve of leaving on a Security Council trip to Africa during which he would lead the Cote d'Ivoire leg, answered Inner City Press that the issue of sexual abuse would be raised in the Council's meeting in the country with all senior leadership, which includes Choi Young-Jin of UNOCI and even President Gbagbo.

On June 9 at a press conference in Abidjan after Choi, Kafando and other six other Security Council representatives met Gbagbo, Inner City Press asked about the sexual abuse report, and what was being done about it. Amb. Kafando referred the question to Mr. Choi. It seemed like, with the build-up, an answer would be forthcoming, on the less than two week old report, as well as on the earlier repatriation of an entire battalion of UN peacekeepers back to Morocco after allegations of systematic sexual abuse and exploitation of under-aged girls.

But Mr. Choi's answer was that on May 30 he had held a press conference about the May 27 report, and that he would be happy to share a copy of his opening statement. That was it. Afterwards, as the Ambassadors rushed to the airport to fly back to New York, ONUCI's spokespeople were not around. An Inner City Press source in ONUCI who was present at Choi's May 30 press conference recounted that all he'd said that is that they were "old allegations" and that they were under investigation. This does not appear to be the type of take-charge, zero-tolerance leadership that Jane Holl Lute has promised. The question, it was implied, should simply not have been asked. But of course it was going to be asked. Jane Holl Lute said the issue of ONUCI senior leadership's role is an important one that will be inquired into, and Amb. Kafando said the issue would be discussed in the meetings in Abidjan, in which Mr. Choi took part. So why no answer?

Even Mr. Choi's equivalent in the Congo, Alan Doss, publicly answered a public question in Kinshasa about allegations that peacekeepers traded guns for gold with militias. He said how it was being investigated, he discussed publicly the specifics of the allegations, and which part had already been found to be true. While Mr. Choi is to his credit said to be a very hard worker, responding to public questions about ONUCI would appear to be part of the job. Perhaps, a ONUCI source suggested, since Mr. Choi is so close with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and now with Ivorian leader Laurent Gbagbo, he feels no need to be politically correct. Time will tell.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unsc1onuci060908.html