On UN Central African Republic Rapes Report, Inner City Press Asked Deputy SG Eliasson, Who Says Mulet By End of Month

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 19 -- The UN report on rapes in the Central African Republic, released on December 17, found that UN Peacekeeping's Under Secretary General Herve Ladsous “illustrate[s] the UN's failure to respond to allegations of serious human rights violations in the meaningful way.”

 Ladsous has yet to take any questions about the report. On January 5, his mission in CAR issued a press release about yet more allegation of sexual abuse of minors by its peacekeepers, below.

 On January 18, Inner City Press managed to ask UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson about the report -- the UN Deputy Spokesperson appeared intent on not allowing the question, but Eliasson to his credit took it. Video here, UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: The UK Ambassador mentioned sexual abuse.

DSG: Yes.

Inner City Press: He did. And so I wanted to know…

DSG: I did also.

Inner City Press: So, since that report came out about the Central African Republic, what has the Secretariat or the 38th floor done to ensure that in the future if a UN staffer becomes aware of child rape, that it goes to the right people?

DSG Eliasson: This is very serious. As you know, the Special Representative in Central African Republic resigned, was asked to resign. One of the others who were named by the Deschamps group, panel, was considered to have abused authority has left the United Nations, retired.  And we have a group set up right now, led by the Chef de Cabinet - Edmond Mulet - that is going to work very, very quickly on following up the recommendations of the panel. Mr. Mulet and his group will report to the Secretary-General by the end of this month.

We will look into both issues of individual responsibility, but also primarily on the systemic problems. This reminded me of my reaction to the Sri Lanka tragedy back in 2009. The panel came to the conclusion that it was systemic failure, so we drew the [conclusion] to that – we need to have a systemic response. That was the origin of Human Rights Up Front.  This time also the Deschamps report talks about, almost in the same language – systemic reactions. I also expect, or we also expect, Member States again to draw the conclusions from this.  In so many cases we have passed on to the Member States very damning reports, but very little sometimes has been done by Troop Contributing or Police Contributing countries. So we need to have nation states following up these [inaudible].

  We will have more, too, on DSG Eliasson's reference to the UN's failure in Sri Lanka. At the January 19 UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq if Mulet's report at the end of January will be made public. Video here.  We'll see.

Earlier in the month,  Inner City Press asked the Permanent Representative of New Zealand and of Uruguay, President of the Security Council for January, about the report(s). Video here.

Ambassador Gerard van Bohemen of New Zealand expressed concern. Ambassador Rosselli of Uruguay said in his national capacity that allegations should be dealt with has his country had, apparently a reference to Haiti. It appears the Security Council will take up this matter.

  Earlier at the January 5 UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric if now Ladsous, in the Security Council right then on CAR, would belatedly answer questions, since the firing / scapegoating of former mission chief Babacar Gaye clearly didn't end the rapes. From the transcript:

 I wanted to ask but CAR, since you have this new report.  One, I guess I’d like to… since Mr. [Hervé] Ladsous is briefing the Security Council today about CAR and has yet to answer any questions on the CAR sexual abuse allegations report… I guess it’s a timely request… can he do a stakeout, take questions on it?  Because it seems like Babacar Gaye was fired, but the problems go on.  So this is a request.  It seems like a reasonable one

 But as noted (and Vined, here), Ladsous did not answer.

 Back on December 18, Inner City Press asked the UN:

Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you again about yesterday’s released Central African Republic report.  What I wanted to ask, in reading it more closely, that given the finding about the now left the UN head of OIOS (Office of Internal Oversight Services)… first of all, can you say… you answered yesterday that Mr. [Anders] Kompass is still under investigation.  Given how pretty definitive the report is, is he under investigation in connection with the release of the CAR report or with the Western Sahara allegations or…

Spokesman Stephane Dujarric:  I have no… I don’t have those details.

Inner City Press:  Given that Miss [Carman] Lapointe’s deputy, Mr. [Michael] Stefanovic, recused himself and spoke out basically against what she was doing and that a Mr. Finness continued, is there any… of Mr. Finness is the third one down…

Spokesman:  I don’t think Mr. Stefanovic is her deputy.  He’s the investigator chief.

Inner City Press:  Exactly.  I guess what I’m saying is the finding… I mean, for example, they looked at this chief of staff of Ban Ki-Moon and not Ban Ki-Moon.  They looked at her activities at the meeting in Turin, in setting up the meeting, whether if it was appropriate or not.  In the case of OIOS, is it… the things that OIOS did, is it entirely contributable to Ms. Lapointe or are they the continuing?  Is the continuing of the investigation of Mr. Kompass consistent with the directive of the report?

Spokesman:  The investigation, as far as I know, is continuing.  And I’m not going to analyse the rest of your question.

Once the report came out from under embargo at the noon briefing Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric what Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will do about the findings against Ladsous, and that he escaped the “abuse of authority” moniker only because “the mandate of the Panel is to assess whether an abuse of authority has occurred in connection with the Allegations.”

 Since the abusers Ladsous let into MINUSCA were not the French troops who are accused of rape -- these troops are not in MINUSCA -- Ladsous' malfeasance is not “in connection” with the Allegations. But is it acceptable?

  Dujarric seems unfamiliar with the report; he implied that the third person found to have abused authority was the Ethics Officer, when it was a lower level official in CAR. Inner City Press asked what this all says about Ban Ki-moon's management, along with the John Ashe / Ng Lap Seng and Bernardino Leon scandal, a question Dujarric did not allow Inner City Press to asked Ban himself on December 16. “Those are your words,” Dujarric replied. Yes, they are.

  When the Panel's three members held their press conference, Inner City Press asked about Ladsous' failure to vet and his linking of rapes to “R&R.” Video here.  Marie Deschamps said pointedly she wouldn't comment on Ladsous' remarks; Yasmin Sooka said these are crimes for punishment, not recreation.

  As the last question, Inner City Press asked what it had wanted to ask Ban, and tried to ask Dujarric: what does this say about Ban's management? Video of Q&A here. Didn't Ban's chief of staff Malcorra, criticized in the report, do it for Ban? Didn't the “senior official” who ostensibly let the rape information die on the vine in the 38th floor work in an atmosphere created by Ban's nine years? We will pursue this.

And this: if OIOS' Lapointe was wrong, isn't James Finness, who continues the OIOS campaign? While the UK has spoken, where is France, given Sangaris and Ladsous?

  As to Ladsous, the finding was made even though the three authors of the report do not mention, and apparently have not yet seen, the notes from Ladsous' October 1, 2015 meeting about the CAR mission withBurundi's Vice President, in which Ladsous said he is “pragmatic” on human rights, in Burundi and by extension elsewhere, nor Ladsous' September 11, 2015 on-camera comments linking the rapes to “R&R,”video here.

  But Ladsous still as of December 17 holds the senior UN position into which France, which has chosen the last four heads of UN Peacekeeping, put him in September 2011. How much longer?

By contrast, the former head of OIOS Carman Lapointe, of whom the panel finds an abuse of authority, is conveniently gone, as is Babacar Gaye, who worked for Ladsous at the CAR mission.

  Perhaps it was easier for the panel to make the formal finding against people who had already left the UN by the time the report was released.

  One wonders: if responses like Ladsous' legalistic (and largely false) November 2 letter were received so long ago  by the panel, why did they withhold the report all the way until December 17, the day AFTER Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's rare (and last of the year) press conference?

  High Commission Zeid, of whom it is said he was slammed in the report, in fact gets the same treatment -- critical, but no formal abuse of authority -- as Ladsous, who is airbrushed out and conditions access to information and answers about Peacekeeping on positive / false coverage.

 The same finding is made with regard to former Chief of Staff Susana Malcorra. Will the critical language hurt what chance she has, as a non Eastern European, to try to follow Ban Ki-moon as Secretary General?

 More generally, how does all this criticism reflect on the tenure of Ban Ki-moon? The report does not mention the concurrent scandalsregarding UN Secretariat documents purchased by now indicted Ng Lap Seng through former President of the General Assembly John Ashe, nor Ban Libya envoy taking instruction and a cushy job with the UAE while representing Ban on and in Libya.

  In December 2015, Ban allowed those who cover him, at least the UN Correspondents Association, to sell seats with him for $6,000. And it is these same who have airbrushed out Ladsous and others.

  The Panelists -- Marie Deschamps, Hassan Jallow and Yasmin Sooka -- leave unnamed a senior officer in Ban Ki-moon's office (finding that he misspoke when he said he had informed Deputy Jan Eliasson), without saying if the officer remains in the same position. We'll have more on this.

On Haiti Cholera, UN Tells Inner City Press No Legal Briefing, Won't Say If Ban Ki-moon Got Served Papers: Song

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 20, with a song -- The day after UN Secretary General gave a speech about the "Rule of Law" in the UN Security Council, Inner City Press for a second time asked his now-outgoing spokesperson Martin Nesirky to simply confirm or deny that Ban (and his UN Peackeeping deputy Edmond Mulet) have been served with legal papers alleging the UN introduced cholera to Haiti.

    Inner City Press asked this same basic question on February 13 and Nesirky said "I will need to check." But in the six days since no answer has been provided.

   On February 20, Inner City Press formally requested a briefing by the head of the UN Office of Legal Affairs Miguel de Serpa.  Inner City Press keyed this request to  the UN's envoy on cholera in Haiti Pedro Medrano having told Jonathan Katz in Beacon Reader that "It’s the under-secretary [general] for legal affairs, Miguel de Serpa. They are now dealing with the issue before the federal court in Manhattan." [Full disclosure: Beacon Reader is a cooperative-like subscription site to which this reporter, like Katz, contributes, for example today.]

  Nesirky, who leaves March 7 for the UN Information Center in Vienna, said he doubts any briefing on the topic by Miguel de Serpa will take place, or it will be "very short."  

How is stonewalling about a legal case consistent with the "Rule of Law?"

  Inner City Press on February 13 asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky:

Inner City Press: on Haiti, I understand the position of not commenting on the cholera litigation, but maybe you can ask the Office for Legal Affairs whether the UN has actually accepted service or process of the papers. There were some earlier problems, and I’ve heard from them that they actually managed to serve two individuals so I’m asking you, just a yes or no answer whether papers were received.

Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, I can’t give either because I will need to check.

  But a week has passed and no answer has been received. The "two individuals" namelessly referred to by Inner City Press in its question were Ban Ki-moon and Edmond Mulet, who spoke on the issue last Fall as shown in the Inner City Press YouTube video here and embedded below.

   In the face of such stonewalling, of such a blue wall of silence, Inner City Press has uploaded the first, raw version of its new song on the topic, here.

Last month the UN's envoy on cholera in Haiti Pedro Medrano was quoted by Agence France Presse that legal wrangling over the epidemic had to be put aside in order to tackle the sweeping advance of the disease.

   Since when Inner City Press has asked, the UN has repeatedly refused to comment on, or access legal papers in, the class action lawsuit against it for bringing cholera to Haiti, this seemed strange.

  At the UN's January 23 noon briefing Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's acting deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq how much if anything -- beyond its credibility -- the lawsuit has cost the UN, and if the UN has accepted service of legal papers.

  Haq said the UN will not comment on the lawsuit.  But, Inner City Press pointed out, the UN's Medrano DID comment on the lawsuit, saying it should be put aside.

  Then Haq said that is not the quote, pulling out the AFP article. It appears the UN choseAFP or even this AFP correspondent Tim Witcher to make its pitch for money while avoiding dealing with its responsibility for the cholera. (The correspondent Witcher was called on first at the January 23 noon briefing, and said to Haq, "On behalf of Pam, I welcome you," referring to Pamela Falk of CBS, the president of the United Nations Correspondents Association now known as the UN's Censorship Alliance.)

  How could that AFP article not have pursued the lawsuit angle? This is how the UN -- and its chosen scribes -- work, or don't work. And it is being challenged and protested by the new Free UN Coalition for Access.

    On the fourth anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a 312-word statement to UN staff there. He began, appropriately, with "grief" - but nowhere in the statement did he mention the word "cholera," much less that the UN is nearly universally viewed as having brought cholera to Haiti, through a deployment of peacekeepers from Nepal coupled with lax UN sanitation practices.

In New York, the UN dodged the claims and questions from Inner City Press about if it has standing claims commissions anywhere -- the answer is no -- and if it even now screens for cholera before deployment -- the answer is still no. Most recently, the UN has refused to accept service of legal papers in the class action lawsuit filed against it. And see below:

   When asked inside the UN about bringing cholera to Haiti, spokespeople for UN Peacekeeper have for months been telling the Press "we have nothing more to say," or more recently, "that is not a yet or no question."

  In November 2013 Inner City Press went two blocks from the UN to a panel discussion with UN Peacekeeping and the US State Department, to see if there might be a more candid answer.

  The guest was supposed to be UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, who inside the UN refuses to answer Press questions. (Video here, UK coverage here.) But he was replaced, apparently at the last minute, by his deputy Edmond Mulet, once the head of the UN's mission in Haiti, MINUSTAH.

When Mulet and the US State Department's Victoria Holt were asked about cholera in Haiti, only Mulet answered. (Holt answered another question about zero tolerance for sexual abuse, but said nothing about the US-trained 391st Battalion of the Congolese Army being implicated in 135 rapes in Minova.)

Mulet essentially blamed the cholera death on Haiti itself, noting the "same strain" -- that would be, from Nepal, brought along with the peacekeepers from there by the UN -- spread to the Dominican Republic but didn't kill anyone.

  Mulet said it spread to Cuba too, but the government there was more organized. But no follow-up was allowed on the main point: it was the UN peacekeepers' negligent santitation practices that put their fecal material in the river and introduced cholera to Haiti. Have any improvements been made since?

  The venue was the Museum of Tolerance; the host was UNA-USA. The mood was how to make the UN attractive to Americans, or really, how to best present the UN to Americans. That's why Mulet's blame-the-Haitians line doesn't work: nearly anyone who hears what happens thinks the UN should apologize, and try to help the families of those killed. This song will continue to be developed. Watch this site.

   

In Mali, Is There Any UN Probe of Deadly Shooting of Protesters in Kidal? Any Recusal of Ladsous from Letter of Assist Payments to France?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 11 -- As UN Peacekeeping becomes more and more of a combatant in Africa, for example acting with the Malian Army as they shot unarmed protesters in Kidal, at the UN in New York more of its briefings are closed, and its chief Herve Ladsous has until now resisted and refused Press questions. Video here, UK coverage here.

So Inner City Press on December 10 asked Ladsous' deputy Edmond Mulet about the deadly live fire at the Kidal airport: is UN Peacekeeping, as even this month's Security Council president Gerard Araud suggested to Inner City Press, conducting an investigation into its actions in northern Mali?

Mulet to his credit did stop on the way from the Security Council to the elevator to say that DPKO is speaking with the Malian authorities. But he used a phrase, lessons learned, which often precludes accountability.

Ultimately it is Ladsous who must answer this question. This morning he is briefing the Council about the Democratic Republic of the Congo, over which he has finally launched his drone. But the briefing is closed. He should take this question, and others, later in the week: but will he?

He should also answer whether he recused himself from any involvement in the UN's non-public Letter of Assist to pay UN money to France for airfield services in northern Mali -- as luck has it, in Kidal where the deadly shooting of unarmed protesters took place.

The argument being made is that only the Department of Field Support is involved in procurement. But it is not clear that sole source "Letters of Assist" really constitute procurement: they are more like set-asides.

In any event, it was DFS' Ameerah Haq who was speaking at the International Peace Institute on the topic of peacekeeping and human rights -- at least technically more in the bailiwick of Ladsous' post if not personality. So, beyond this question to IPI, the larger question remains: was Ladsous recused from this Letter of Assist payment to France? And how much is the payment for? Watch this site.

   

On Haiti Cholera, UN Refuses Court Papers, Like a Scofflaw or Fugitive: US State Department to Support?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 20 -- Is the UN now akin to a dead-beat dad, a fugitive or a scofflaw? When the lawyers in the class action suit for victims of the UN bringing cholera to Haiti tried to serve the complaint, the UN "refused to physically receive process."

  Inner City Press asked the victims' lawyers for more detail, and was told: they went to the UN Office of Legal Affairs, now led by Miguel de Serpa Soares, but the UN refused to accept the papers.

  Now, they tell Inner City Press, they aim to ask for permission for an alternate mode: service by publication. Those are the legal notices published in newspapers, often putting deadbeat parents on notice their wages will be garnished. How has the UN fallen this low?

  The victims' lawyers anticipate the UN, once it is served if only by newspaper publication, making a motion to dismiss on the grounds that it is immune. But, they say, no remedy has been provided, nor any alternative mechanism.

  Just as Sri Lanka military figure, now Deputy Permanent Representative Shavendra Silva successfully did, the US State Department will be asked to make a court filing supporting immunity. 

  This time, the lawyers say, there will be a campaign to ask the State Department not to support impunity, with letters to Secretary of State John Kerry including from members of Congress.

  On Tuesday evening, Inner City Press filmed as State Department official Victoria Holt heard the UN's Edmond Mulet essentially blame the cholera deaths on Haitian under-development; when given the floor, Holt said nothing about this. Video here; longer form analysis by this author here, on Beacon Reader.

  In the UN Press Briefing Room, for six days now Inner City Press has asked a yes or no question: has UN Peacekeeping established any of the Standing Claims Commissions provided for its its Status of Forces Agreements.

  On November 14, UN acting deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said that actually setting these up depends on the request of the mission's host government. But that not only ignores the power relations, it does not answer the yes or no question: has any Standing Claims Commissions been set up?

  Haq referred to the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. But its chief Herve Ladsous has refused to answer basic questions, such as about the 135 rapes at Minova by UN Peacekeeping's partners in the Congolese Army. Video here, UK coverage here. So would will this simple question be answered?

  Not on November 18. Asked again, Haq said the question had been put to UN Peacekeeping, but it's "not a yes or no question." Video here. If the answer's yes, can't it be said in four days? And if no - what's the explanation? Or does the UN Peacekeeping under Ladsous think they can just not answer?

  Waiting two days, and after filming UN Peacekeeping deputy Edmond Mulet Tuesday night, here, Inner City Press, on November 20 asked Haq again, saying it had been six days. Haq replied that counting days is not helpful. But how can UN Peacekeeping not answer a basic question in six days? We will keep asking. Watch this site.

   

As Ban Ki-moon Meets SADC on DRC, Shouts at Photo-Op, Doors Closed, Access Fight

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 22 -- It was the last photo-op of the first day of the UN's General Debate week, between Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the presidents of Malawi and Namibia, representing the Southern African Development Community.

  Since SADC essentially runs the UN's Intervention Brigade in the Eastern Congo, Inner City Press decided to cover it. For a minute of photos at the 6:30 pm meeting, media was told to assemble at 6 o'clock. There was a metal detector and a pat-down, and a dog to sniff the camera. Then up to the 37th floor.

  Inner City Press filmed and took a photo of the river, then of the Empire State Building up by Ban's conference room. The media were ushered in to wait. In came Edmond Mulet of UN Peacekeeping -- and so it seemed, yes, it would be about the Brigade. There was Taye-Brook Zerihoun of Political Affairs, and Ban's chief of staff Susanna Malcorra.

  And then, with cameras rolling, there was shouting from just outside the room. It was unmistakably Ban Ki-moon, shouting "He's coming to the UN!" and more. Video here.

  Quickly Malcorra and a UN Security guard ran and closed the door. Another door was closed. People stared at the floor.

  Finally the delegations and Ban came in, and smiled for the camera. Later this read out was released:

Readout of the Secretary-General’s joint meeting with H.E. Mrs. Joyce Hilda Mtila Banda, President of the Republic of Malawi, and H.E. Mr. Hifikepunye Pohamba, President of the Republic of Namibia

The Secretary-General met with H.E. Mrs. Joyce Banda, President of the Republic of Malawi and current chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) together with H.E. Mr. Hifikepunye Pohamba, President of the Republic of Namibia. He welcomed SADC’s important contribution to the pursuit of peace and stability in the Great Lakes region and its strong support both to the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework, and to the Uganda Talks between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Government and the M23.

He also expressed appreciation for SADC’s constructive role in Madagascar and underlined the readiness of the United Nations to work with SADC in this regard. 22 September 2013

  Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesperson's office a question about Madagascar that was never answered. Now on the Security Council's trip to the Eastern Congo, while that Office provided notice of media seats first to a sub-set who pay the UN Correspondents Association, then only after protest by the Free UN Coalition for Access to the rest, it's said France chooses who goes. This is Ban's UN. Watch this site.

   

Exclusive: Rwanda PR Tells Inner City Press "We Don't Need Tough Talk," Has Means to Know Who Bombed from DRC, Syria Echoes

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, September 4 -- UN envoy Mary Robinson, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said "“I do not say one thing in Goma and another thing in Rwanda. I say tough things, especially to people who need to hear those tough things directly."

  Inner City Press asked Rwanda's Permanent Representative to the UN Eugene-Richard Gasana about the comments. We don't need tough talk, he told Inner City Press exclusively. We have nothing to learn from those who come with tough talk.

  When bombs from the DRC fell in Rwanda, the UN quickly put the blame on the M23 rebels. Rwanda disagrees, and the UN has not come forward with proof. Gasana told Inner City Press on Wednesday, we have the means to know who did it.

There is an analogy, of course, to what the US is saying about the use of chemical weapons in Syria. They say they know who did it, they will not wait for the UN report.

  Meanwhile some close UN watcher say that the lack of credibility of the UN's reports on the Great Lakes, from the Group of Experts' reports under Steve Hege to UN Peacekeeping's Herve Ladsous' and Edmond Mulet's more recent charges undermine the argument that anyone should wait for the UN report on Syria. 

 (The UN's self-exoneration of bringing Haiti to cholerafurther calls the UN's reporting veracity into question.)

So if the US says don't wait for any UN report before acting on Syria, is that logic only for them, the ultimate American exceptionalism?

It is also strange that Mary Robinson, a member of The Elders like Kofi Annan today deploring armed conflict in Syria, is "talking tough" on government and UN military offensives in Eastern Congo. These double standards are getting Old. Watch this site.

   

On DR Congo, UN's Mulet Tells Press No M23 Violation of Security Zone Except Mortars, Reuters Blind Quote Different: Why?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 22 -- Amid conflicting reports from Eastern Congo, Inner City Press and another journalist twice asked UN Peacekeeping acting chief Edmond Mulet Thursday if the M23 rebels had entered the security zone established around Goma.

  "No," Mulet said. "Just mortars." He went on to refer to the separate "red line" established when M23 agreed in Kampala to pull out of Goma. (The portion of that agreement that gave M23 one third of the security force at the Goma airport remains unimplemented.)

  But later on Thursday, the wire service Reuters reported "a senior U.N. official, who asked not to be named, said that on Thursday the rebels entered a security zone surrounding Goma" -- which Mulet, the acting chief of DPKO, had just denied. Inner City Press and the other journalist waited to ask Mulet again, and got the same answer.

  So who is this "senior UN official who asked not to be named"? In UN Peacekeeping, only Herve Ladsous, long absent from UN Headquarters, is senior to and could over-rule Mulet.

  Ladsous has in the past spoon-fed answers of dubious veracity to this same Reuters UN bureau bragging for example about the Congolese Army imposing accountability for the 135 rapes in Minova in November 2012.

   But with only a few arrests for the 135 rapes, Ladsous' DPKO continues supporting the 391st Battalion, even as it is now implicated in corpse desecration.

That the UN would try to use Reuters, willingly, resonates with a documented instance in June 2012 when Reuters UN bureau chief Louis Charbonneau gave to UN official Stephane Dujarric an internal UNCA anti-Press document,three minutes after saying he would not do so. Story here,audio here, document here, in which Charbonneau tells Dujarric, "You didn't get this from me."

  So is Reuters' "senior UN official who asked not to be named" someone junior to Mulet, or as another journalist suggested, no one at all? Watch this site.

   

As Ban Ki-moon Thanks Qatar for Golan Kidnapping's End, AFP Doesn't Ask Why, Just Channels #Ladsous2013

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 11 -- When the release of UN Peacekeepers by the Yarmouk Martys Brigade was credited to Qatar by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the obvious question raised was and is:

what are Qatar's relations with the kidnappers and kidnapping?

  It is not surprising that UN's in-house UN News Service would leave this questions unasked, and instead flash back to a rare press availability -- back in March -- by UN Peacekeeping's reclusive chief Herve Ladsous.

 (This is become a cult of personality: for this kidnapping, it was UN Peacekeeping's Edmond Mulet, not the missing in action, air brushed in, Ladsous who briefed the Security Council.)

  On Qatar, Ban, the ultimate boss of UN News Service, named the petro-state's former ambassador to head his "Alliance of Civilizations," and Qatar is bidding big money to acquire the headquarters of the UN system's International Civilian Aviation Organization as well as UN Women.

But tellingly, when ostensibly independent Agence France Presse got around to typing up Ban's thanks to Qatar, it did not ask the obvious question either. Instead, with a UN dateline, and as is typical using anonymous diplomatic -- read, French -- sources, AFP reported

  "'This time the rebels felt under pressure and took more convincing to free the soldiers,' said a UN diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. 'Qatar's role was important.'"

  What was Qatar's role IN the kidnapping? AFP doesn't ask. 

UNDOF, by UN Photo / Wolfgang Grebien; Ladsous not seen
 Instead AFP runs a quote from a spokesperson for Ladsous, on whose behalf AFP's Tim Witcher has filed complaints against Inner City Press, first within the UN Correspondents Association (which Inner City Press left, once it began the UN's Censorship Alliance, and co-founded the Free UN Coalition for Access), then on March 8, 2013 with the UN.

  Witcher claimed that by asking a question, Inner City Press "abused" Ladsous, who is the fourth Frenchman in a row to head UN Peacekeeping. 

 Once this and Ladsous' role in the Rwanda genocide as France Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN arguing for the escape of the genocidaires into Eastern Congo were noted, Ladsous began refusing to answer any Inner City Press questions, video here.

  Now when peacekeepers are killed, as in the past week in Abyei and Congo, Ladsous does not even like his predecessor Alain Le Roy hold any question and answer stakeout. His spokespeople issue selective information, here, to AFP. And AFP does not ask even the most basic questions.

AFP's Tim "Faceless No More" Witcher, photo by UNTV

Footnote: Since the campaign involving AFP's UN reporter and UNCA Executive Committee member Tim Witcher has evolved into ever more frequest use of anonymity, it's worth noting that Witcher's byline rarely appears. That call it the resentment of the faceless.