History Through Twitter: At UN, From Rwanda Genocide To Ben Ali and Haiti Cholera, Ladsous' Online Life Part I

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 10 -- While the UN is supposed to be about transparency and work for the public good, UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row in the position, has repeatedly refused to answer Inner City Press questions about Haiti, Sudan,Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Video compilation here. 

  What's behind this?

  It's a story that can also be told in tweets. Before as exposed by Inner City Press he became a last minute replacement for Jereome Bonnafont, France's first pick to succeed Alain Le Roy, Ladsous' name had only rarely appeared on Twitter.

  The earliest was on March 26, 2009 on the French site and feed @ExPatLive.com, linking to a video now disappeared from the Internet. 

  Ladsous had previously been France's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, during the 1994 Rwanda genocide when he argued for the escape of genocidaires into Easter Congo. More on that as this series progresses: the belated recognition of Ladsous' role and conflict of interest have become more prominent in online mentions of him.

  On November 29, 2010 the feed @EurActivFR noted Ladsous had taken over as the chief of staff for soon to be disgraced French foreign minister Michèle Alliot-Marie. 

  In that capacity, and before Alliot-Marie had to resign for taking flights on aircraft of cronies of Tunisian dictator Ben Ali, Ladsous was said to dress down Syrian Ambassador Lamia Chakkour, according to the feed @RatTatTata.

  The irony or hypocrisy of this, while Ladsous was arranging flights for Alliot-Marie on Air Ben Ali, was later noted by Inner City Press -- Ladsous began to refuse to answer.

  The first flurry of tweeting about Ladsous was on September 2, 2011 when the UN named him as head of peacekeeping. The first choice Bonnafont had already started receiving congratulation cards at UN Headquarters, as put online by Inner City Press. 

  But Bonnafont's bragging in India, where he was France's Ambassador, about getting the post led to him losing it. And Ladsous, already twice rejected when Jean-Marie Guehenno and then Alain Le Roy were selected, was pushed in by Sarkozy.

   Even that morning, the French mission was saying it would be Bonnafont. When Inner City Press exposed this, Agence France Presse made a complaint to the UN Correspondents Association, on whose Executive Committee Inner City Press then sat. 

  This bogus complaint led to a lengthy kangaroo court process, to Inner City Press quitting UNCA and co-founding the new Free UN Coalition for Access, @FUNCA_info. But it's worth noting: Ladsous had previously served on a management board of AFP.

  From the first day, there were questions that went unanswered. What WAS Ladsous' role in Haiti when Aristide was deposed? This unanswered question, tweeted by Inner City Press, continues to reverberate.

  When Ladsous held his first press conference on October 13, 2011, Inner City Press asked him about Haiti, Air Ben Ali and most of all Rwanda, what he did and said during the genocide.

  This is when Ladsous began to refuse to answer or even take Inner City Press' questions -- he would make this policy formal in May 2012, just after UNCA began its kangaroo court proceeding against Inner City Press. That's why they call it the UN Censorship Alliance.

  But 2011 ended with Ladsous avoiding and canceling question and answer stakeouts of the type Guehenno and Le Roy routinely did. Ladsous refused to say if Sudan flew militias from Darfur to Blue Nile state (later in a study),whether Jau is in Sudan or South Sudan, and was dismissive even then of the claims of those killed by UN Peacekeeping bringing cholera to Haiti. Things would only get worse: this is Part I. Watch this site.

   

Sudan Complains of JEM Role in Abiad Lake Attack, from South Sudan: Mbeki Briefing Aftermath?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 1 -- With Sudan emboldened by a February 27 closed door briefing of the UN Security Council by Thabo Mbeki that several Council members tell Inner City Press was either "anti South Sudan" or "more balanced" than before, Khartoum on Wednesday filed another letter of complaint with the Council. With the letter not yet circulated, Inner City Press obtained a copy and puts it online, here.

In the letter, Sudan links an attack on February 26 at Abiad Lake with the Justice and Equality Movement fighters it previously complained fled into Tumsaha in South Sudan along with weapons from the fallen Gadhafi government of Libya.

Sudan has now repeatedly complained, as first reported by Inner City Press, that a UN Sanctions monitor, a "British Mister Bryan," was blocked by South Sudan from going to confirm or disprove the presence of JEM and Gadhafi weapons in Tumsaha.

The February 29 letter says the South Sudan's army transported the fighters from Tumsaha toward Abiad Lake for the attack; it seems to claim that South Sudan has acknowledged transporting SPLM-North but not JEM personnel.

After the February 29 closed door briefing about fighting in Jau, UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said not a word to the media, but diplomats told Inner City Press the US is charged with drafting a Presidential Statement to deal with the Mbeki briefing and Jau. Will it now include Abiad Lake as well? What is the trend here? Watch this site.

On Sudan, After Mbeki and Jau Briefings It's Call for "Balance," Will US Do It?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 29 -- The impact of the Thabo Mbeki panel's briefing of the Security Council on February 27 was felt on February 29 as the Council heard complaints from Sudan that assistance for attacks, on Jau and elsewhere, came from South Sudan.

While by all accounts UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous had no substantive information about Jau, only second hand reports, afterward several Permanent Representatives said Jau will be "rolled into" a Presidential Statement the US is charged with drafting, supporting the Mbeki panel.

Inner City Press spoke exclusively with Mbeki after Monday's meeting, and put the video online. Since then, sources who were in the meeting have told Inner City Press that Mbeki and his co-panelist said that South Sudan is to blame for walking away from agreements.

It was said that South Sudan believes that without oil pumping, Khartoum can only last eight months, while Juba can last at least 12 months. One Council member, on this, told Inner City Press it is very bad, playing chicken this way.

The range of descriptions of the Mbeki panel briefing reflected how various Council members wanted the Mbeki panel briefing to be reported. Western countries supportive of South Sudan said little about it. Those more attuned to Khartoum said little, but now say that the mood of the Council has change, statements on Sudan must be "more balanced." What will the US do? Watch this site.

Footnote: at Wednesday's noon briefing, Inner City Press asked how Ladsous could brief since the UN on Monday said it had no access to Jau and could not confirm anything, and if Ladsous would speak to the press. On his way out of the Council, Ladsous did not say a word to the media. The vigil continues.

As Sudan Complains of 2nd Round in Jau, US Wants Translation, Juba Says 2 Jau's

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 28 -- The town and topic of Jau, on the ill-defined border of Sudan and South Sudan, was again discussed in UN Security Council closed door consultations on Tuesday, Inner City Press has learned.

Sudan has complained in writing to the Council that the recent taking of Jau by the united SPLM-North and Darfur-based Justice and Equality Movement was, in fact, assisted by South Sudan.

On Monday outside another closed door Council meeting, a "holistic" briefing by Thabo Mbeki on the range of Sudan and South Sudan issues including oil, South Sudan's Ambassador David Choat told Inner City Press there are two Jau's - one in Sudan and the other in South Sudan.

Council sources tell Inner City Press that the United States wanted to push back the briefing and session on Sudan's complaint about Jau "until the letter is translated;" still, a well placed source predicted a session on it will take place tomorrow Wednesday, the final day of Togo's Council presidency.

During the last round of fighting about Jau in December 2011, the chief of UN Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous said in essence it is up to the parties -- Sudan and South Sudan -- to decide on which side of the border Jau is located.

There was been little progress since. Tuesday it was announced that UN Mission in South Sudan chief Hilde Johnson is traveling to Uganda, Kenya and Sudan itself, which she has often said is not in her mandate. What is the trip about and what will be accomplished? And, again, what DID Johnson mean when she answered Inner City Press on camera that Russia "subsequently" told the UN its helicopters would fly, after grouding them? What WAS the death toll in Pibor? Watch this site.

As Ladsous Said It's Up to Sudans Where Jau Is, No Visit or Answer from UNMISS

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 14 -- Despite heavy fighting in and around Jau, with South Sudan says is in its territory, the UN Mission in South Sudan has not gone to Jau to try to safeguard the remaining residents or even count the dead.

Since this seems like either dereliction of UNMISS' mandate, which includes protection of civilians, or an indirect admission that the UN or at least its Department of Peacekeeping Operations thinks Jau is in North Sudan, Inner City Press has repeatedly asked the UN where Jau is, and why it has not gone.

DPKO boss Herve Ladsous, unlike other Under Secretaries General, did not speak to the press or do a stakeout Q&A when he left the Security Council session with Sudan and South Sudan.

Questions to spokespeople, including about Ladsous' previous claim that a Status of Forces Agreement with Sudan about the UNISFA mission in Abyei have gone unanswered. (Susan Malcorra, for now USG of the Department of Field Support, on December 13 gave Inner City Press an update about discussion in Addis Ababa.)

Now Inner City Press has learned that in closed door Council consultation, what Ladsous said about Jau's location was that it is up to the parties to decide. (We'll have more on Ladsous, spotting wandering around on December 13.) Jau is not on the list of five disputed towns; for the UN to punt and give Khartoum a veto, and decline to even ask to go to where civilians are being harmed, seems to be a new low.

There is a conference in Washington for the next two days about South Sudan, including in its first day a panel moderated by UNMISS chief Hilde Johnson. The question of Jau and why UNMISS hasn't gone has be put to her directly, at least electronically as suggested, without any answer; Ladsous' DPKO in New York either has no answer or says it is up to the parties, giving a veto to Khartoum on protection of civilians.

So Johnson will be in Washington, at the conference on South Sudan. One wonders if she will address this question, and if the event will be web-cast. We've asked. Watch this site.

After UN Dodges Jau Killings for 3 Days, Rice Says Jau Is In Sudan - or Not (Updated)

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 8, updated -- With Abyei the topic of the UN Security Council on Thursday, the deadly fighting in the town of Jau slowly came out of the fog into which the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations had cast it.

For three days, the UN has told Inner City Press that DPKO is unable to confirm the fighting in Jau. On December 9, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky answered Inner City Press' question about Jau by describing entirely separate fighting in Bor.

Now the unstated reason for the UN's stonewalling and then misdirection has come into focus: there is a dispute about whether the UN Mission in South Sudan can even go to Jau. Inner City Press asked US Ambassador Susan Rice, "Is Jau in Sudan or South Sudan?"

"It looks like it is in Sudan," Rice said.

Later on her way out of the Security Council meetings, Ambassador Rice graceously asked to "revise and extend" her earlier remarks, saying "the bottom line is nobody knows" if Jau is in South Sudan or Sudan. Inner City Press then asked Sudan's Permanent Representative Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman about it - follow up story soon, watch this site.

Before Thursday morning's meeting, Sudan's Permanent Representative Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman told Inner City Press, Jau is in Sudan and the Yide camp is only ten kilometers away, it is a "breeding ground" for rebels.

What it now appears is that DPKO decided it would not even try to go to Jau, because of the dispute about which side of the border it is on.

What ever happened to the supposed primacy of protection of civilians? Or simple transparency of what the UN is doing and why? Watch this site.

Update: in the Council's open session ostensibly on Abyei, Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman insisted that Jau is in Sudan. David Choat of South Sudan said that Division 9 of the SPLA has been based there. Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman agreed, but had that was an illegal occupation. Ended unilaterally, impacting civilians, with the UN's DPKO casting its own fog over it. What will the Security Council do? Watch this site.

Asked to Confirm Sudan Attack on Jau, UN Cites Separate Internal Fight in Bor, "Bad Mistake"

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 7 -- After declining for two days to confirm the Sudanese Armed Forces' incursion into Jau in South Sudan, when Inner City Press asked for a third time about Jau on Wednesday, the UN responded with an entirely separate violent attack, in Bor County, saying 37 were killed but the UN couldn't say who was responsible. Video here, from Minute 16:09.

Jau, which neighboring Sudan entered over the weekend, is entirely separate from Bor, to which the UN Mission in South Sudan went and from which it evacuated four wounded people to Juba.

A South Sudan diplomat later on Wednesday told Inner City Press that the UN "needs to go to Unity State;" for the UN to respond to questions about Jau in Unity with answers about Bor is "a bad mistake."

South Sudan suffers the double whammy of attacks from Khartoum as well as violence with renegades like General George Athor. But the UN, with peacekeeping missions not only in South Sudan but also Darfur and Abyei, should be able to keep such attacks separate, as they have different implications.

While it was Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky who has in the first instance fielded Inner City Press' questions about Sudan's entry into Hau in South Sudan, and finally responded about the separate and distinct violence in Bor, the blame may be assigned to the Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

Questions like the one about Jau are referred to DPKO; somehow the team of Herve Ladsous at DPKO felt it is acceptable to not provide confirmation for three days running to a bloody cross border attack in an area they have a mission in. What is DPKO doing?