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UN GATE / SDNY COURT, May 6 – The United Nations Mission in South Sudan acknowledged internally that a staff member has tested positive for Coronavirus COVID-19, while claiming it is taking all precautions, see below. SG Antonio Guterres has refused to answer questions from Inner City Press about this, about his UNMISS representative David Shearer, and about his own UN Security guards still using their gym. Video here.

 To the UNMISS mission, Inner City Press has asked to ask these questions. No answers, see below. But now we exclusively publish question UNMISS staff asked in the May 4-5 "Town Hall" with Shearer, who many say should be fired:

SRSG's Town Hall meeting with UNMISS Personnel Q&A

May 4, 2020 Why the administration are not providing mask to the Staff in the Mission ? Many staff are not wearing masks ? where is the safety here ? Anonymous

May 4, 2020 I'm asked to be in office full time & now staff come to office more often & we are all endangering each other. can we please have a clear guidance on this?

Don't you have family ? We have to be with family. What is your plan ? Wait until we suicide ? T Take this serioulsy 12:11 AM Staffs in the filed are Doom !!!!!!  (edited)   T Take this serioulsy 12:12 AM Don't treat us like a tool !! We are not political tools. We are humans like every one.

May 4, 2020 case of COVID 19 are increasing a South Sudan ? How the Administration will prevent that National Staff entering to the UN Compound are tested ?

 May 4, 2020 Poor info to UNPOLS, exit plan for rotations, will UNPOLs with EOM I July, Aug and Sept get extension automatically, forecast for CTO outside mission area?

 May 4, 2020 Last townhall, possible ebb flights were discussed for UG nationals&those w/UG Res. permits. I’m int’l SM, my family is there, I'm none of the above. can I go?

May 4, 2020 recent media reports indicate that kits from China are contaminated with corona virus, how will UNMISS protect staff from getting infected through testing ?

May 5, 2020 How are the 14 day mandatory quarantine for staff on Special Flights be charged? Shouldn't theybe Telecommuting from Outside as reflected in current attendance Anonymous May 5, 2020 Charging staff on 2-week mandatory quarantine outside duty station Uncertified Sick Leave w/d be unfair especially if they telecommute from where they are Anonymous May 5, 2020 IDPs in Bor are banned from receiving treatment in level 1 & 2 but outside patients are welcome to UNMISS health services. Is it not a discrimination? Plz help.

May 5, 2020 How advisable is to go home if we can? We haven't received any official communication on whether we are critical or encouraging us to leave as per SRSG guidanc Anonymous May 5, 2020 People that have been in quarantine for more than 15 days without ever being +. Are we entitled to anything for having suffered negligence? Anonymous May 5, 2020 Why the mission is unable to pay the one month salary advance to national staff? KCB has capacity to pay the money once it is wire into NS accounts.

 May 5, 2020 Taking room charge from UNV is injustice, volunteer principles says they are not charged for food and accommodation, can u make 1 decision to provide free room Anonymous May 5, 2020 Dear SRSG,You never reply yes or no always replying diplomatically & answer you left to answer by Supervisor & HoFO. This time I am not attending this townhall.

May 5, 2020 JIT is charging about $30 for one N95 mask. That is price gouging. Can someone look into it please. D Damas May 5, 2020 Excellency, efforts appreciated. However, rental fee be reduced. MSA Increment (Extra expenses on medical protection). National staff be tested before entering Anonymous May 5, 2020 Reducing footprint was left to Ho entity, what's happening? Staff well being & that of their families are at stake. Are we stuck here with lack of action?

May 5, 2020 With 3 planes cancelled 3 times, that took off a week late, how influential is SRSG with his negotiations with the SS government? honest anser plz.

10:42 AM COVID presents largely asymptomatic. The notion that only medical professionals and those who are COVID positive wear mask is medically irrational. Please.

3:06 PM If movement is restricted to only essential operations, why is security alert status still green for Juba?

3:10 PM Aviation Global/WFP plans to fly to COVID hubs West Africa. I am informed that UNMISS has to register and pay a deposit. What is UNMISS plan? Anonymous 3:13 PM What steps have been taken to address an outbreak of COVID-19 in our POC sites? Don't we have a responsibility to provide access to basic medical care? Anonymous 3:15 PM With most Insight security guards absent from UN bases, what steps are being taken to prevent incursions and possible security threats to UN staff? Anonymous 3:17 PM Why should staff who are complying with policy to reduce footprint in mission now being forced to take AL/FV in order to get on one of the only flights out? Ask SRSG's Town Hall meeting with UNMISS Personnel May 4 – 6, 2020 #45627

UNMISS said to many, "The Special Representative of the Secretary-General, David Shearer, will hold a virtual press conference on Thursday 7 May 2020 at 14:00-15:00 to discuss the UN’s support for the national-led COVID-19 prevention and response plan in South Sudan.  The press conference will be conducted via Microsoft Teams. Please register your interest in participating with unmiss by 12:00 on Wednesday 6 May so that log-in details can be provided to you."

Inner City Press more than 30 hours ago asked, "Hello - I am registering my interest and asking to be provided with the log-in details for the May 7 virtual press conference on UNMISS by the SRSG. Please confirm receipt and provide the log-in details."

 Nothing yet, nothing at all. At what point does censorship, by the UNSG and UNMISS, become a crime?

 On April 23 Inner City Press exclusively published SRSG Shearer's order that "UN International staff (only) will be able to access Tomping and.or UN House specifically for exercise activities." Full double-speak memo here.

  Whistleblowers who previously complained in real time to Inner City Press about UN national staff being forced to ride on a UN bus with no social distancing are outraged at Shearer's order, and say that given the layout of the compounds, it does not comply with WHO (and IHR, see below) regulations. Guterres refuses to answer, there is video - and WHO has not yet taken the questions. Watch this site.

  On April 19 after the UN bragged about unspecified discipline on an unidentified staffer who broke quarantine or self isolation and flew back to his or her unidentified country, Inner City Press has exclusive obtained and now publishes the South Sudan government document showing that government demanded information about the UN violation from the World Health Organization, here.

  The document, of South Sudan's High Level Task Force, also shows them taking money ostensibly for COVID-19 from tobacco company Carnak, MTN, Atlantic Energy and Patronas which, along with China National Petroleum Company, stands accused of funding militias through Dar Petroleum Operating Company. Inner City Press will be asking Juba and WHO about this.

    But what about the South Sudan UN bus without social distancing, which was Guterres rep David Shearer's fault? What about Guterres' own guards? This is another case of Do As I Say, Not As I Do (April 18 Matthew Russell Lee song here).

 Here is the disingenuous notice which does not mention the bus, the spread and the UNHQ gym: "a staff member who failed to complete self-isolation and left South Sudan without authorization.     The staff member was in isolation after it was believed he may have come into contact with a person diagnosed with COVID-19. He received one test that confirmed him as negative and then left Juba on a flight without the knowledge of the United Nations. The flight was commercial, not a United Nations flight.     Since arriving in his home country, he has been tested again and is confirmed to be negative for COVID-19.     In the interests of openness and transparency, the United Nations informed the Ministry of Health and expressed its regret about what had happened.     The United Nations is continuing to strictly follow the health protocols relating to COVID-19 and is working cooperatively through the World Health Organization with the Ministry of Health.     Any United Nations staff who fail to adhere to the requirements for testing and self-isolation will face disciplinary action."

  So when will Guterres' guards be punished? When will Guterres (and Tedros) be fired?

On April 9 Inner City Press exclusively published a notice among Guterres' UN Security, which he used to oust and ban Inner City Press, violating all New York City (and state) laws by keeping their gym open, with up to three officers using it at once. Photo here.

  What will Mayor De Blasio's pro-UN office, which took masks not offered to UN staff quarantined at home (as lax practices at UN WIPO preceded the death of a staffer there) say? Inner City Press is asking Guterres and his spokespeople Stephane Dujarric and Melissa Fleming. The UN, including UN Security, is corrupt.

But the transcript of a meeting with staff by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres' representative in Juba, David Shearer, leaked to Inner City Press by outraged staff, shows for example that the UNMISS mission has been running busses for local staff without social distancing.

 They analogize it to when the UN brought cholera to Haiti and then lied about it for years, and has still to pay any compensation under Antonio Guterres "who instead spends the public's money on his own trips to Lisbon." Guterres and his spokespeople Stephane Dujarric and Melissa Fleming have refused all Press questions on this, choosing to ban critical Inner City Press and take staged questions from Xinhua.

Here's a first part of the transcript from Shearer's meeting with staff, after the misleading press release by Shearer's underling about COVID-19:

"The United Nations in South Sudan has confirmed a case of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) among its staff... The UN has previously imposed a travel freeze on all staff travelling into the country, ensured staff who arrived prior to the ban are self-quarantined for 14 days, introduced work-from-home measures to reduce numbers of people in offices, and enforced social distancing rules and frequent hand washing by all personnel."

This is false. From the UN Mission in South Sudan transcript leaked to Inner City Press: 

Leda Limann: SRSG, these are national staff specific. The majority of UNMISS staff have family members in Uganda. Can you please engage with Ugandan authorities?

SRSG Shearer: This is a bit tricky because for national staff, obviously, their country is here, and we expect them to work here and that is why we employ national staff because they are here. I think, what we can certainly look at what happens in the future, I am in contact with the Resident Coordinator in Uganda to see what options there are to visit family members. But it is not possible for the moment to evacuate people from South Sudan to Uganda because they are South Sudanese, that is why they are here. But we will look at the possibility of being able to access their families. At the moment, we have got no ability to be allowed into Uganda. Nobody has the possibility of entering Uganda and, likewise, coming back into South Sudan. So, we are a bit caught but let’s see what happens in the future.

    Leda Limann: National staff use the shuttle bus twice daily and the social distancing is not maintained in the bus. Is the mission taking any measures on this?

     Nope... More of the transcript is on Patreon here.

  The United Nations held a four speakers, one M.C. event to raise funds for itself off of Coronavirus on March 25.  But three of  the participants had refused to make public even the UN's bare-bones financial disclosures: Mark Lowcock, Henrietta Fore of UNICEF and Melissa Fleming.  The head man, Antonio Guterres, has lied on his form, omitting his financial links to convicted UN briber CEFC China Energy. So their credibility is questionable. 

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