By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, October 28 -- The UN's peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, under Herve Ladsous, has been slow to report on crimes against (some) civilians, much less to protect them as this month in Leer. Inner City Press on October 28 asked the UN to respond to criticism from the African Union, below. Inner City Pressasked on October 26 about Leer, and on October 27 the UN came back with this:
"Yesterday, Matthew you asked about South Sudan. The Department for Peacekeeping Operations says that it is aware of reports of SPLA [Sudan People’s Liberation Army] attacks in Leer. While the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) does not currently have presence in Leer, it is looking at ways to improve its ability to assess the situation and enhance the protection of civilians by establishing longer and more established presence in southern Unity state."
But now that the African Union report has been released, there are more questions for the UN and Ladsous to answer.
From Paragraph 27: "the Commission was unable to access any data in the possession of the UNMISS which has been
documenting the violations committed since the start of the violence in December 2013 — despite the resolution of the Security Council mandating it to cooperate with AUCISS."
So, despite the UN's claims about "Rights Up Front," not only did UNMISS not comply with general requirements of reporting on harm to civilians - the AU says UNMISS didn't even comply with UN Security Council resolutions. Who will answer for this?
On October 28, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric:
Inner City Press: I'm sure you've seen finally, after much delay, the AU [African Union] released its report on South Sudan. There's a lot in it, and many people are saying many things about it, but the thing I'd wanted to ask about is the section that has do with the UN. And it says… this is in paragraph 37. And this is… it's sort of surprising. It says, "The commission was unable to access any data in the possession of UNMISS [United Nations Mission in South Sudan] which had been documenting the violations committed since the start of the violence despite the resolutions of the Security Council mandating it to cooperate with AU CISS. So what does DPKO [Department of Peacekeeping Operations] say?
Spokesman: Well, obviously, we welcome the report and the issuance of the report, which the Secretary-General has called for, had called for. I think the issue of transparency is an important one, as is the issue of accountability. As for the details of the report, I think we're still reading through it. So if I have something to add…
Inner City Press: Right. Eventually, there's some direct allegations about the mission…
Spokesman: I understand.
Inner City Press: Okay. I have one more...
We will continue asking. And about this, too, on UNDP and UNICEF:
"The Commission learnt that the CPA-DDR program was supported by the UNDP, UNICEF and UNMISS. By the time the program was closed in December 2011, not much had been achieved."
An internal UN document leaked to Inner City Press, which exclusively published it here, shows the high degree of dysfunction in the country, and in the UN.
