In
S Sudan, UNESCO-Supported
Media Authority Grills
& Blocks
Journalists, UN Decay
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive Series
UNITED NATIONS,
March 10 – The UN has yet to
speak on the South Sudan
government ordering children
out of UN Protection of
Civilians camps to take tests,
even as the country's
UNESCO-supported Media Authority
now grills journalists' visas
and denies entry to some. This
is the same South Sudan Media
Authority that outgoing UNESCO
chief Irina Bokova praised
in February 2016, two
days after UN Public
Information boss Cristina
Gallach evicted Inner City
Press without any hearing, nor
appeal since.
What has today's UN come to?
Even after
the UN declared famine in
South Sudan, the Salva Kiir
government responded by
raising the fee on the
international NGOs fighting
the famine to 10,000. Now
we've learned of an UNreported
"Temporary Protection Area"
next to the UN base in Leer,
kept quiet by the UN in order
to stay in good with the Kiir
government. It is shameful -
and dangerous. So is this:
children of families who fled
Kiir government threats and
violence and live in the UN
base in Juba were supposed to
be allowed to taken the
national secondary school test
inside the base on March 6.
But the government now says
they must leave the base to be
tested - and UNMISS and
UNICEF, which runs the schools
in the bases, have said nothing.
More cover up for Kiir:
shameful.
It continued
on March 9, when Inner City
Press asked again, UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press:
yesterday, I asked you about
the situation in the UNMISS
[United Nations Mission in
South Sudan] camp in Juba and
the school… the exams for
secondary school against South
Sudan and the Government
saying that people have to
leave the camp. Have you
been able to get the answer of
UNMISS on that?
Spokesman Farhan Haq:
No, I've asked for an answer
from UNMISS. I don't
have anything just yet.
This is about different exams,
and we'll have to see whether
there's any effort being made
to pursue an alternative that
would be more convenient for
the students themselves.
Inner City Press:
Right. What they're
saying is it's an ethnic
problem, that most of the
children in the camp are
afraid of the largely Dinka
forces and there's why… it
seems like the UN… basically,
the time to take the exam is
expiring. That's why I'm
asking you again today.
Spokesman: Well, we'll
see what efforts are being
made on the ground to help
resolve that.
(Now Japan
is moving its peacekeepers out
of South Sudan by May. Will
Japan now support an arms
embargo on the country? Will
that ever be put to a vote
again?)
On March 7, after
reporting on the off the books
"Temporary Protection Area" in
Leer, Inner City Press asked
the UN's holdover deputy
spokesman Farhan Haq about it.
Video
here.
Haq said everything is
included. On March 8, Inner
City Press asked again, and
about the UN's silence on Kiir
ordering children to leave the
UNMISS camps to take tests. Video
here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press:
I'd asked you yesterday about
this temporary protection area
near the UN base in Leer in
South Sudan. And I'm
wondering, you seemed to say
it was included in the
reports, but I still don't see
it. But, I have another
question, which has to do with
the base…
Deputy Spokesman: Yeah,
actually on that, before you
go ahead, I got this just
now. Let me just
see. And it says… yes,
the Temporary Operating Base
in Leer was established in
November 2015, following a
resurgence in violence in the
area. In consultation
with humanitarian partners who
withdrew due to insecurity,
destruction and the looting of
their premises and vital
supplies, the temporary base
was established to mitigate
against the deteriorating
situation in South and Central
Unity. Leer has a
Temporary Protected Area,
which is protected by UNMISS
[United Nations Mission in the
Republic of South
Sudan]. It not a
full-fledged protection site,
as it is not equipped with
camp managers or full
humanitarian services, neither
of which are present in
Leer. UNMISS forces have
been providing medical
services — they have delivered
48 babies — and water to the
displaced population.
The Leer Temporary Protection
Area is not represented in the
Protection of Civilians Site
Update because there are no
official figures for the
population, as our
humanitarian partners have not
conducted biometric
registration nor a reliable
head count.
Inner City Press: About
the base in Juba. I'm
told that South Sudan is
conducting a… a secondary
school test. They began
Monday. And they were
supposed to conduct them for
the students and youths living
in the camp inside the
camp. But, at the last
minute, the Government said,
no, you have to come outside
of the camp to do it.
And several hundred children
are not going out of the camp
because they feel unsafe with
the Government and its
national security service
overseeing their test.
What I'm wondering is, what is
the role of the UN in
there? I'm told that
UNICEF [United Nations
Children’s Fund] runs the
schools. Does the UN
have any comment on the
Government, at the last
minute, switching and
requiring people under the
UN's protection to come out of
the camp, their fears, and why
haven't they taken this up
with the Government?
Deputy Spokesman: Well,
I'll see whether UNICEF has
anything to say with that…
about that, but you can also
check with our UNICEF
colleagues.
Question: Also
UNMISS. I mean, it's an
UNMISS Protection of Civilians
camp. So, if the
Government is ordering people
to leave UN protection camps,
isn't that of concern to
UNMISS or to even higher up in
the building?
Deputy Spokesman: We'd
have to see whether that's
what they're doing. I'm
just going by your report on
that. All right.
Have a good afternoon,
everyone.
UN
March
7 transcript here:
Inner City Press:
I wanted to ask you about
South Sudan. I’ve become
aware that there’s, next to
the UN base in Leer, something
called a temporary protection
area that has… is protecting
civilians, but it’s not
included in the… in the… this
Protection of Civilians weekly
release that’s put out by
UNMISS (United Nations Mission
in South Sudan) so… whereas
something called an adjacent
area in Wau is included.
So some people there say this
is kind of a… kind of an
off-the-books or
under-the-table. Can
you… maybe you’ll know it from
the podium or I’d actually
like you today to get an
answer whether there is a
temporary protection area in
Leer and, if so, why it was
chosen not to include it in
the… the disclosures that the
UN puts out of people it
protected? And what
would happen if people there
were actually attacked by
Government forces that they’re
seeking to flee from?
Deputy Spokesman: Well,
we do disclose all of the
various Protection of
Civilians sites, as well as
adjacent areas, so that
information is provided.
Depending upon what the
facilities are, we… you know,
we provide different updates
if other areas are set
up. I don’t have any
particular information about
any site in Leer, but we can
check.
From the
UN's March 6 transcript:
Inner City Press:
Mr. O'Brien was in South
Sudan. There's a
document that's being
circulated online [h/t/ Jason
Patinkin, here]
that the Government is now
charging NGOs a $10,000
business license fee.
This comes in the wake
of the famine
determination. Does OCHA
[Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs] or
the UN have any response to
the Government increasing its
fees on groups trying to
address the drought?
Deputy Spokesman: Well,
like I just said a few seconds
ago about this, Mr. O'Brien
has spoken to the press
following his visit. One
of the points he made is that
aid workers continue to face
multiple obstacles to the
delivery of humanitarian
assistance, including active
hostilities, access denials,
and bureaucratic
impediments. And the
basic point is, as he said, we
need the access and the funds
to save even more lives.
Inner City Press: Right,
so this includes this $10,000
fee?
Deputy Spokesman: It
includes all bureaucratic
impediments, yes.
With the UN speaking more
about South Sudan, including a
four-speaker press conference
on February 22 manipulated
by holdover spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, its reflexive
covering up for the Salva Kiir
government continues. Inner
City Press has been sent, by
outraged whistleblowing UN
staff, the following internal
directive, which pretends that
those robbing UN staff are NOT
in fact with the government.
Finding no answers from
"spokesman" Dujarric even to
questions on which he has been
given
an if-asked answer by
those above him in the UN
system, we publish it in full.
"Ref:
025/SB/02/23/2017 It has come
to the attention of UN
Security that criminals in
civil clothes operating in
pairs or individually and
purporting to be personnel of
Host Government National
Security are operating around
prominent supermarkets/stores
in Juba and targeting UN/INGO
personnel for harassment and
robbery. These individuals
accost unsuspecting staff
members coming out of the
supermarket and flash
identification cards as
personnel of National
Security. They immediately
accuse staff members of having
gone to change money inside
the supermarket and seek to
search the pockets of staff
members to determine if any
currency exchange has been
made or not. It is their
assessment that staff members
with more than 5000 SSP must
have changed money. Reports
received indicate that this
scenario is continuously
playing out and staff members
are falling victims to these
criminals.
The following
advisory are recommended to
ensure the safety and security
of staff:
Do not carry
large sums of money on you
whilst moving in town. Staff
members should not agree to be
subjected to bodily search
except when their lives are in
danger. Park UN
vehicles at designated car
park inside the supermarket if
one is available. Staff
members should avoid the
temptation of changing money
in supermarkets as some of
these venders may be
collaborating with the
criminals. As much as possible
avoid driving alone in town.
Staff members driving alone
are more vulnerable targets.
Always remember to drive with
doors locked and windows
closed. Never leave the car
unless forced to do so. Do not
display items (phones, laptop-
bag, handbags etc) openly in
your car. Put them on the
floor, under the seat or
preferable in the boot of
vehicle. Avoid argument
and struggle with an armed
robber. Report all security
incidents, unusual
happenings/activities, or
events to the SIOC Duty
Officer on 0922777765 or
Juliet Sierra Base immediately
and pass as much as possible
information (who, where, when)
to the duty officer."
The
UN system seems intent on
covering up the disappearance
of South South opposition
figures in Kenya, where Ban
Ki-moon made his own son in
law Siddharth Chatterjee the
UN Resident Coordinator.
On February
7, Inner City Press asked
Stephane Dujarric, Ban's old
spokesman, still speaking for
the UN, transcript
here:
Inner City Press:
You talked about South Sudan,
and I wanted to ask you, are
aware of an order among the UN
Humanitarian Air Service to
basically try to discourage
Kenyan nationals from going to
any IO-controlled territory
because of the capture of IO
officials in Kenya?
[Cross talk]
Spokesman: No...
Dujarric
referred to one of the UN
agencies the transition
process at which is entirely
murky. So here now is
the document leaked to Inner
City Press, put
on Scribd here.
UNHAS
Document Leaked to Inner City Press
Has UN Discouraging Kenyans' Travel
to SPLA-I/O Areas in South Su...
by Matthew
Russell Lee on Scribd
This comes
at a time when the failures of
Herve Ladsous' UNMISS are
being raised, including in
Washington, and is published
in light of danger and the UN
Spokesman refusing to answer
questions. We'll have more on
this.
On January 11
after South Sudan said that it
will not, in fact, accept the
4,000 new peacekeepers for the
Regional Protection Force,
Inner City Press asked UK
Ambassador Matthew Rycroft
about it. Video
here; UN transcript
here:
Inner City Press:
On South Sudan, the government
say they’re not going to take
the regional protection force.
What do you think the Council
can or should do?
Amb Rycroft: They
committed earlier to accept
the regional protection force.
They are obliged to accept it,
given Security Council
decisions, and we call on them
again to accept that regional
protection force in the
interest of longer term
stability in South Sudan.
When the
UN Security
Council members
met about South
Sudan on December
15, the best they
could do was
extend the mandate
of the UNMISS
mission for a
single day. Even
then, there was
already news of
UNMISS having
given arms to
warlord, or “rebel
general,” James
Koang.
Inner City
Press asked US
Ambassador
Samantha Power
about this on
December 16 and
she said she
hadn't read it. On
December 19, even
while fielding a
pre-picked
question on South
Sudan, Power still
refused to answer.
Video
here.
***
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