In
South Sudan,
UN Helps State
Broadcaster
Despite
Ladsous Pledge
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
13 -- On South
Sudan a year
ago on March
18, 2014, UN
Peacekeeping's
Herve Ladsous
told the
Security
Council,
"UNMISS would
suspend
activities
dedicated to
extending
State
authority."
But now UNMISS
is using its
equipment -
and its
Japanese
engineering
unit - to do
construction
work on the
compound of
state
broadaster
South Sudan TV
-- even as the
UN Human
Rights Council
hear from High
Commissioner
Prince Zeid
how press
freedom is
declining in
South Sudan.
So
on March 13
Inner City
Press asked UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric, video here:
Inner
City Press: On
South Sudan,
it’s now
reported that
the Mission,
UNMISS, was
performing
construction
work on the
State-owned
broadcaster
South Sudan
TV, so some
see it as
inconsistent
with the
statement by
Mr. Ladsous a
year ago that
the Mission
would no
longer be
working in
support of
extending
Government—
Spokesman
Dujarric:
Well, let’s…
let us check
on the
veracity of
the report.
Inner City
Press:
On UNMISS’s
website, there
are pictures
of that.
But I also…
when do you
respond, if
you do
respond,
there’s also a
theory under
which it’s
inconsistent
given
criticisms of
the
deterioration
of the freedom
of expression
in South Sudan
and this is a
State
broadcaster—
Spokesman:
Obviously, and
this is an
issue that the
SRSG has
spoken about.
And? Five
hours later,
there was
nothing from
Dujarric's
office, and
certainly not
from that of Ladsous, who refuses Press questions,
here and here.
Back
on February 27
after UN
Spokesman
Dujarric read
out a vague
summary of the
UN's
investigation
into the
deadly downing
of one of its
helicopters in
South Sudan
last August,
Inner City
Press asked
for specifics:
Inner
City Press:
you said that
they were
unable to
determine who
did it, that
it came from
an area
between In
Opposition and
the
Government.
But there was
this audiotape
of Peter Gadet
threatening
the UN to
shoot down
helicopters
that was… you
know, days
before it was
shot
down.
So, can you
say or find
out whether
these Board of
Inquiry people
listened to
the audio and
whether they
found it not
credible or…
why it's not
part of the
report?
Spokesman
Dujarric:
They had all
the
information
that was
available to
them. As
a general
point, a
threat is a
threat.
I think what
they were
looking at is
for hard
evidence to
figure out who
had shot the
helicopter,
they were not
able to come
in with any
conclusive
information.
Inner City
Press: Do they
use a
different
standard of
proof than
even a court
because
usually like
it seems like
--
Spokesman:
A Board of
Inquiry tries
to establish
what
happened.
Obviously,
they looked at
the helicopter
and all the
information
they
had.
That's the
conclusion
they came up
with.
But why?
Beyond Gadet,
the
International
Crisis Group,
for example,
implies that
the government
itself shot
the copter
down:
"an
UNMISS
helicopter was
shot down on
26 August,
killing three.
Although the
results of its
investigation
have not been
released,
initial
reports
suggest this
was done from
territory
controlled by
the government
and by a
weapons system
know to be in
the hands of
the government
[n.
100:
Crisis Group
interviews, UN
officials,
Nairobi,
November 2014;
defence and
security
adviser,
Nairobi,
December
2014.]"
For UN
Peacekeeping
under Herve
Ladsous to
remain silent
is consistent
with its
approach to
the Tabit
rapes in
Darfur, the
Minova rapes
in November
2012 by the DR
Congo Army,
and the
shooting at
unarmed
protesters in
Haiti (to say
nothing of the
killing by
cholera
there.)
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