UNITED
NATIONS, June
21, updated
-- The
departure on
June 20 of
Liberian
soldiers by
plane for the
peacekeeping
mission in
Mali was reported
by Reuters as
a fact, as
having already
taken place
that day.
This
was repeated
in,
among others,
the Chicago
Tribune,
the Global
Post, Yahoo
News and,
ironically,
"Eyewitness"
News.
There
was only one
problem: the
Liberian
troops did NOT
go to Mali.
Inner
City Press
asked the UN
Mission in
Liberia why
they had not
left,
along with the
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
now pushing
all
parts of the
UN system to
be more
accessible and
answer
questions,
including by
Twitter. (The
FUNCA_info
twitter feed
is here.)
After
that story
appeared in
Google News,
and while the
false Reuters
report
continued to
circulate in Switzerland
and back
to Liberia,
UNMIL
responded:
"The plane
scheduled to
carry soldiers
developed
mechanical
problem. Once
resolved AFL
soldiers will
be on their
way
to Mali."
This
was sent
between 4 and
5 am Friday,
New York time.
Still the
Reuters
story
circulated,
even on Voice
of America
-- which uses
US taxpayer
money to pay
Reuters for
stories which
are, in this
and other
cases,
incorrect.
This story
had fully four
bylines or
credits:
"Reporting
by Alphonso
Toweh; Writing
by Bate Felix;
Editing by
Daniel Flynn
and
Angus
MacSwan."
Did
too many cooks
spoil the
journalistic
Soup? Among
other things,
FUNCA
fights for the
rights of
smaller, less
corporate
media -- and
for its
troubles faces
attacks,
even on its
sign, from the
UN and its
partners.
Another
Reuters
four-way flub
happened
recently with
the mis-naming
of South
Sudan in
connection
with the
killing of UN
peacekeeping
in Kadugli in
Sudan, still
without
explanation,
with the
quartet of
"Reporting
By Michelle
Nichols in New
York and
Khalid
Abdelaziz in
Khartoum;
Writing by
Maggie Fick;
Editing by
Michael
Roddy."
In
that case,
while they
have still not
deigned to
explain it and
their
uncorrected
stories remain
online, it
appears that
Reuters simply
took and
retyped
mistaken
information
provided by UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous'
spokesperson
Kieran Dwyer.
Ladsous
is
the one making
but not
taking Press
questions on
supposed human
rights due
diligence and
training,
while seeking
to include the
Chadian
Army, on the
UN's own list
of child
soldier
recruiters, in
the Mali
peacekeeping
force,
along with
these 50
Liberians.
The
Liberian
troops were
given training
in May from
the US
Marines,
called
Operation
Guardian
Angel.
Notably, one
of the two
units of the
Congolese Army
implicated in
the 135 rapes
at Minova in
late November
2012, the 391st
Battalion, was
also trained
by the US.
Has the
training
changed?
Now
Inner City
Press in
conjunction
with the new
FUNCA project
has on
deadline asked
UNMIL's top
three
spokespeople
"if the plane
scheduled to
carry the
soldiers was a
UN plane, a
Liberian
plane, or
a plane of
another
country -- and
if so, which
one -- and to
describe
any human
rights and
child
protection
training they
have received
or
will receive.
, 
