UN Statement on meeting with General Aziz Ahmed

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The UN peacekeeping spokesperson today (February 10th, 2021) issued a statement about the virtual meeting held between Bangladesh’s Chief of Army Staff General Aziz Ahmed and UN peacekeeping officials which was rather different in tone and substance to the press notice first issued by the Bangladesh army public relations office ISPR yesterday, and then swiftly retracted this morning.

ISPR statement issued today, retracting the statement issued yesterday. It asks newspapers to retract pres release titled “Bangladesh Army chief meets with senior UN officials. General Aziz Ahmed calls for deployment of more Bangladeshi peacekeepers in UN peacekeeping operations”.

The two statements are not necessarily in conflict with each other — and could simply be descriptions of the same meeting (held on February 9th) with parties simply emphasising different aspects. It is however notable that:

• the UN does not mention in its statement that Mr Lacroix, the Under-Secretary-General (USG) for Peace Operations assured the Army Chief of “his support for deploying more Bangladeshi peacekeepers in future”, something stated as being the case in the ISPR statement.
• And does mention that at the meeting Mr Lacroix “recalled the allegations from recent media investigations as well as what the spokesperson of the Secretary-General has recently said on this matter”, a reference to the recent Al Jazeera film about political corruption in Bangladesh involving Aziz Ahmed. This is not mentioned in the ISPR statement.

A diplomat, with close ties with UN peacekeeping told Netra news that the “UN had nothing do with this retraction.”

The UN statement does not refer to any inquiry that human rights groups including Human Rights Watch have urged it to conduct in light of the film

The statement the UN peacekeeping spokesperson gave to Netra News stated:

On Tuesday afternoon, the Under-Secretary-General (USG) for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, met with Bangladesh chief of Army Staff, General Aziz Ahmed, as part of a routine meeting with defence personnel from countries that contribute personnel to our operations. The meeting, which took place virtually, was requested by Bangladesh.

USG Lacroix discussed Bangladesh’s contributions to peace operations and the country’s support to meet peacekeeping challenges. Mr. Lacroix paid tribute to the Bangladeshi peacekeepers who lost their lives in the line of duty, and to those injured, including recently in Mali.

USG Lacroix recalled the allegations from recent media investigations as well as what the spokesperson of the Secretary-General has recently said on this matter.

The USG for the Department of Operational Support, Atul Khare, as well as other officials also met separately with General Aziz to discuss operational support elements of Bangladesh’s contributions to peace operations.

Below is the statement initially issued by ISPR — and later retracted.

Bangladesh Army Chief meets with senior UN officials General Aziz Ahmed calls for deployment of more Bangladeshi peacekeepers in UN peacekeeping operations
Dhaka, 10 February 2021
Bangladesh Army Chief General Aziz Ahmed held important meetings with UN Under-Secretary-General (USG) on Tuesday (09–02–2021) for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix and Under-Secretary-General for Operational Support Atul Khare. During the meetings General Aziz Ahmed reiterated Bangladesh’s steadfast commitment and continued support to the UN peace operations. He called for deployment of more Bangladeshi peacekeepers in peacekeeping missions globally. Army Chief also requested for appointing more Bangladeshi officers in senior positions of UN peace operations and UN Headquarters.

At the meeting, held Tuesday, UN Under-Secretary-General Lacroix appreciated the professionalism, discipline, dedication and bravery of the Bangladeshi peacekeepers deployed in different UN peacekeeping missions. He thanked the government of Bangladesh for its enormous contribution to UN peace operations. Bangladesh now ranks as the top troops and police contributing country in the world. Mr Lacroix assured Army Chief of his support for deploying more Bangladeshi peacekeepers in future.

Tuesday, in his meeting with Atul Khare, Under-Secretary-General of the UN Department of Operational Support, Army Chief thanked him for enlisting Bangladesh Biman as a carrier of UN peacekeepers. USG Atul Khare thanked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her invaluable contribution to peacekeeping, climate change, women empowerment and humanitarian issues. He also thanked the Government of Bangladesh for its significant role in transporting UN peacekeepers by Bangladesh Biman in the midst of Covid-19 pandemic. They also talked on the issues of Bangladesh Navy, Bangladesh Air force and Bangladesh Police in UN Peace operations.

Apart from the above meetings, Tuesday, Bangladesh Army chief also met with Lieutenant General Carlos Humberto Loitey, Military Adviser for UN Peacekeeping Operations.

On the same day, the Chief of Army Staff held a meeting with Ambassador Rabab Fatima, Permanent Representative (PR) of Bangladesh to the United Nations. The PR briefed the Army Chief on various aspects of Bangladesh’s engagements in the United Nations. General Aziz Ahmed thanked Ambassador Rabab Fatima for her leadership to promote Bangladesh at the UN, especially in peacekeeping affairs. The Chief of Army Staff was accompanied by Major General Jubaer Salehin, Commandant, Defense Services Command and Staff College and Brigadier General Md Sadequzzaman, Defense Adviser of Bangladesh Permanent Mission to the United Nations. General Aziz Ahmed is on official visit to the United States since January 29 at the invitation of the United States Government.