Before This Week's Attack on UN Base in Akobo, South Sudan, UN Staff's Tweet of Nuer Youth Mobilizing There Disappeared Last Month

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 20 -- Before the killing of two UN peacekeepers and a still unknown number of civilians in Akobo, South Sudan, which Indian ambassador Asoke Mukerji told Inner City Press came from 1500 Lou Neur youth, a Danish UN staffer there named Mathilde Kaalund-Jørgensen tweeted about "Lou Nuer youth mobilising in big numbers" in Akobo.

  But the tweet, and the whole Twitter account, quickly disappeared. Inner City Press reported on it November 8, and when UN envoy to South Sudan Hilde Johnson came to the Security Council on November 18, Inner City Press asked her about the disappeared Akobo / Nuer tweet.

Johnson replied it never should have been tweeted. More should be said -- including the rights where appropriate for whistleblowers to make things public that the UN may be covering up, for example on having brought cholera to Haiti.

Also at the November 18 UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked for an answer to a question it asked last week, related to the UN bringing cholera to Haiti and then refusing to be accountable. Does UN Peacekeeping in any of its missions have established the Standing Claims Commission provided for it its SOFA or Status of Forces Agreements?

  Haq said he had asked DPKO -- whose main spokesperson Kieran Dwyer stood to the side of Johnson's stakeout -- but that it is "not a yes or no question." Really? Does DPKO have any Commissions - if you can't say yes after multiple days, is the answer "no"?

  Finally the UN admitted: no.

  UN Peacekeeping as a whole is declined into a stonewalling organization under Herve Ladsous: click here for video, here for UK coverage. Each SRSG -- and, in light of the disappeared Akoba tweet and subseqent events there, each UN staffer -- is free to be more responsive, and should. Watch this site.

   

UN Now Admits to Inner City Press that No Peacekeeping Mission Has a Standing Claims Commission, Like on Haiti Cholera, No Remedy

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 26 -- When the UN got sued on charges of bringing cholera to Haiti which has killed over 8000 people, a major reason was the UN's failure to set up the Standing Claims Commission provided for under its Status of Forces Agreement (or Status of Mission Agreement).

   And so starting nine days ago, Inner City Press has been asking UN spokespeople whether any UN Peacekeeping mission has a standing claims commission.

   UN acting deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq told Inner City Press it is "not a yes or no question," then that counting days without an answer wasn't helpful.

   Inner City Press waited more days, then on November 26 -- nine days after asking the question -- asked it again at the day's noon briefing. Minutes later, this admission:

Subject: Your question on claims commissions
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Tue, Nov 26, 2013 at 1:13 PM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

Regarding your question at today's noon briefing, we can confirm that no peacekeeping mission has a claims commission in place.

  Clearly something is broken; people in countries ostensibly helped by the UN have no recourse when things go wrong, even deadly wrong.  So what will be done by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Herve Ladsous, the UN head of peacekeeping selected like his three predecessors by France?

    The impunity is flagrant. With the UN now akin to a scofflaw, its acting deputy spokesperson Haq last Thursday refused to confirm or explain refusing even service of the court papers. 

   When the lawyers in the class action suit for victims of theUN bringing cholera to Haiti tried to serve the complaint, they told Inner City Press last Wednesday, the UN "refused to physically receive process."

  Inner City Press asked UN spokesperson Farhan Haq the next day to confirm and explain -- but he said there was nothing more to say, that previous statements explain it.Video here and embedded below.

  So did then UN lawyer Patricia O'Brien ruling the adminstrative claims were "not receivable" mean her successor Miguel de Serpa Soares wouldn't even "receive" the court case papers?

  The lawyers tell Inner City Press they aim to ask for permission for an alternate mode: service by publication. Those are the legal notices published in newspapers, often putting deadbeat parents on notice their wages will be garnished. How has the UN fallen this low?

  The victims' lawyers anticipate the UN, once it is served if only by newspaper publication, making a motion to dismiss on the grounds that it is immune. But, they say, no remedy has been provided, nor any alternative mechanism.

  Just as Sri Lanka military figure, now Deputy Permanent Representative Shavendra Silva successfully did, the US State Department will be asked to make a court filing supporting immunity. 

  This time, the lawyers say, there will be a campaign to ask the State Department not to support impunity, with letters to Secretary of State John Kerry including from members of Congress.  Would newly appointed US Mission reform ambassador Leslie Berger Kiernan play a role in this?

  On last Tuesday evening, Inner City Press filmed as State Department official Victoria Holt heard the UN's Edmond Mulet essentially blame the cholera deaths on Haitian under-development; when given the floor, Holt said nothing about this. Video here; longer form analysis by this author here, on Beacon Reader.

  In the UN Press Briefing Room, for seven days now Inner City Press has waited for a UN answer to a yes or no question: has UN Peacekeeping established any of the Standing Claims Commissions provided for its its Status of Forces Agreements.

  On November 14, UN acting deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said that actually setting up a standing claims commission depends on the request of the mission's host government. But that not only ignores the power relations, it did not answer the yes or no question.

  Haq referred to the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. But its chief Herve Ladsous has refused to answer basic questions, such as about the 135 rapes at Minova by UN Peacekeeping's partners in the Congolese Army. Video here, UK coverage here. So would will this simple question be answered?

  Not on November 18. Asked again, Haq said the question had been put to UN Peacekeeping, but it's "not a yes or no question." Video here. If the answer's yes, can't it be said in four days? And if no - what's the explanation? Or does the UN Peacekeeping under Ladsous think they can just not answer?

  Waiting two days, and after filming UN Peacekeeping deputy Edmond Mulet Tuesday night, here, Inner City Press, on November 20 asked Haq again, saying it had been six days. Haq replied that counting days is not helpful. But why did UN Peacekeeping not answer a basic question for eight days? Would it have ever answered, if not asked again and again? Watch this site.

Footnote: also last Thursday, Inner City Press asked the UN's Haq for an update on previous answers that the UN Mission in the Congo MONUSCO was "verifying" reprisal attacks in Bunagana and Kiwanja. These was no update. So is the UN checking or not?

   

On Haiti Cholera, UN Refuses Court Papers, Like a Scofflaw or Fugitive: US State Department to Support?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 20 -- Is the UN now akin to a dead-beat dad, a fugitive or a scofflaw? When the lawyers in the class action suit for victims of the UN bringing cholera to Haiti tried to serve the complaint, the UN "refused to physically receive process."

  Inner City Press asked the victims' lawyers for more detail, and was told: they went to the UN Office of Legal Affairs, now led by Miguel de Serpa Soares, but the UN refused to accept the papers.

  Now, they tell Inner City Press, they aim to ask for permission for an alternate mode: service by publication. Those are the legal notices published in newspapers, often putting deadbeat parents on notice their wages will be garnished. How has the UN fallen this low?

  The victims' lawyers anticipate the UN, once it is served if only by newspaper publication, making a motion to dismiss on the grounds that it is immune. But, they say, no remedy has been provided, nor any alternative mechanism.

  Just as Sri Lanka military figure, now Deputy Permanent Representative Shavendra Silva successfully did, the US State Department will be asked to make a court filing supporting immunity. 

  This time, the lawyers say, there will be a campaign to ask the State Department not to support impunity, with letters to Secretary of State John Kerry including from members of Congress.

  On Tuesday evening, Inner City Press filmed as State Department official Victoria Holt heard the UN's Edmond Mulet essentially blame the cholera deaths on Haitian under-development; when given the floor, Holt said nothing about this. Video here; longer form analysis by this author here, on Beacon Reader.

  In the UN Press Briefing Room, for six days now Inner City Press has asked a yes or no question: has UN Peacekeeping established any of the Standing Claims Commissions provided for its its Status of Forces Agreements.

  On November 14, UN acting deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said that actually setting these up depends on the request of the mission's host government. But that not only ignores the power relations, it does not answer the yes or no question: has any Standing Claims Commissions been set up?

  Haq referred to the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. But its chief Herve Ladsous has refused to answer basic questions, such as about the 135 rapes at Minova by UN Peacekeeping's partners in the Congolese Army. Video here, UK coverage here. So would will this simple question be answered?

  Not on November 18. Asked again, Haq said the question had been put to UN Peacekeeping, but it's "not a yes or no question." Video here. If the answer's yes, can't it be said in four days? And if no - what's the explanation? Or does the UN Peacekeeping under Ladsous think they can just not answer?

  Waiting two days, and after filming UN Peacekeeping deputy Edmond Mulet Tuesday night, here, Inner City Press, on November 20 asked Haq again, saying it had been six days. Haq replied that counting days is not helpful. But how can UN Peacekeeping not answer a basic question in six days? We will keep asking. Watch this site.

   

After 2 Days of Questions, UN Confirms 4 Fiji UNDOF Troops Injured in Golan, But Won't Say Treated in Israel

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 20 -- Now that media  in New Zealand as well as in Israel and Fiji have reported that four Fijian peacekeepers with the UNDOF mission in Golan were injured and treated at the Ziv Medical Center, Inner City Press at the November 20 noon briefing again asked the UN's spokesperson Farhan Haq about the incident.

   He said his colleagues in UN Peacekeeping (led by Herve Ladsous, who refuses Press questions, video here, UK coverage here) were working on it.

  And after the briefing, 24 hours after it was asked, the UN emailed an answer - that ends with a comma:

Subject: Your question on UNDOF
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply[at] un.org
Date: Wed, Nov 20, 2013 at 12:38 PM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

Regarding your question yesterday on the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), the Department of Peacekeeping Operations has the following information:

UNDOF, like other UN peacekeeping missions, has contingencies in place for medical emergencies, including medical facilities in its area of operation and evacuation procedures when required. These procedures were adhered to following the incident of 15 November, in which UNDOF personnel were involved in a motor vehicle accident in the UNDOF area of operation. The injured peacekeepers were immediately taken to the medical facility at the UNDOF Headquarters, Camp Faouar. UNDOF personnel requiring further medical attention were evacuated in accordance with medical emergency contingencies in place,

   Why end the sentence that way? Why not say WHERE they were taken: Israel?

  As so often with the UN, it's not that the answer takes time, it's that the UN doesn't want to answer. In this case, why wait a full day to see if it was asked again? These are peacekeepers injured working for an ostensibly public institution. 

  Previously on November 12, after being told by sources in the area of over 170 injured people from Syria and the Golan being treated in the Ziv Medical Center, Inner City Pressasked the UN:

Inner City Press: UNDOF question, what does UNDOF do when a person who is injured either in fighting or a civilian injured through fighting, approaches them, I have been told that in some instances, they’re turned away to avoid allegations from either side of taking sides, but is there just a sort of implicit protection of civilians mandate of UNDOF and what's the protocol when an injured individual, either a fighter or a civilian, approaches UNDOF?

Spokesperson Nesirky: I’ll need to check on that. I do believe that we do have something on that, but I would need to check first, okay?

In that case, three hours later Spokesperson Martin Nesirky sent:

Subject: Your question on UNDOF
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 3:19 PM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

Regarding your question at noon about UNDOF, we have the following to say:

The UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) has provided medical treatment, including immediate first aid and emergency treatment, to civilians on a strictly humanitarian basis. For further details, we refer you to the March, June, and September 2013 Reports of the Secretary-General on UNDOF.

  In this case, UNDOF couldn't treat its own peacekeepers, according to media in Israel and Fiji -- and then the UN in New York said it had heard nothing about it. 

  When asked a second day in a row, it answered, but omitted where the peacekeepers were sent for treatment. 

  At Tuesday's briefing, Haq's chiding response, after dodging questions on Uganda's claims against the UN ("ask the AU") was to say that Central African Republic shouldn't be shortened, as nearly all on the Security Council do, to "CAR."

  So the UN can pronounce very precisely -- but wouldn't confirm the injury then the transfer to Israel of its own Golan peacekeepers or if Ladsous' DPKO has any Standing Claims Commission anywhere in the world. On November 18, it was "not a yes or no question." And on November 20? Still not answer - but the statement that counting days is not helpful. What is?  Watch this site.

   

Fiji Says 4 Troops UNDOF in Golan Treated in Israel, UN Claims Hasn't Heard: Pattern

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 19 -- After media both in Israel and in Fiji reported that four Fijian peacekeepers with the UNDOF mission in Golan were injured and treated at the Ziv Medical Center, Inner City Press asked the UN's spokesperson Farhan Haq about the incident.

  Haq said, Tuesday at noon, that he had not heard of this. How is this possible?

The Fiji Times reported that "a thorough investigation will be conducted by the government to ascertain the cause of an accident that left four Fijian soldiers serving with the UN Disengagement Observer Force injured in the Golan Heights over the weekend. An Information Ministry statement released yesterday confirmed the soldiers are part of Number 3 Company of 1FIR under the UNDOF mission."

  So the Information Minister of Fiji formally confirmed the UNDOF incident, but the UN's information ministry said it had never heard of it.

  Previously on November 12, after being told by sources in the area of over 170 injured people from Syria and the Golan being treated in the Ziv Medical Center, Inner City Pressasked the UN:

Inner City Press: UNDOF question, what does UNDOF do when a person who is injured either in fighting or a civilian injured through fighting, approaches them, I have been told that in some instances, they’re turned away to avoid allegations from either side of taking sides, but is there just a sort of implicit protection of civilians mandate of UNDOF and what's the protocol when an injured individual, either a fighter or a civilian, approaches UNDOF?

Spokesperson Nesirky: I’ll need to check on that. I do believe that we do have something on that, but I would need to check first, okay?

In that case, three hours later Spokesperson Martin Nesirky sent:

Subject: Your question on UNDOF
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 3:19 PM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

Regarding your question at noon about UNDOF, we have the following to say:

The UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) has provided medical treatment, including immediate first aid and emergency treatment, to civilians on a strictly humanitarian basis. For further details, we refer you to the March, June, and September 2013 Reports of the Secretary-General on UNDOF.

  In this case, UNDOF couldn't treat its own peacekeepers, according to media in Israel and Fiji -- and now the UN in New York says it has heard nothing about it. How is that possible? To this has the UN sunk. 

  Then at Tuesday's briefing, Haq's chiding response, after dodging questions on Uganda's claims against the UN ("ask the AU") and Israel treating those injured in the Golan ("haven't heard of it"), was to say that Central African Republic shouldn't be shortened, as nearly all on the Security Council do, to "CAR."

  So the UN can pronounce very precisely -- but can't confirm the injury and transfer to Israel of its own Golan peacekeepers or if Ladsous' DPKO has any Standing Claims Commission anywhere in the world. On November 18, it was "not a yes or no question." And on November 19? No answer at all. Watch this site.

   

In Darfur UN Stresses Flying Wali, Not Chad Copters & Ladsous' War Criminal Interactions

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 19 -- Amid reports that the Chadian military has entered Sudan's Darfur, in conjunction with an assault on rebels led by Sudan's Defense Minister Abdel Raheem Mohammed Hussein, who has been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, Inner City Press on November 18 asked the UN for confirmation.

  Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's acting deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq had near the beginning of the briefing mentioned Darfur: "the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) facilitated the travel of the Wali, or Governor, of Central Darfur and the State Security Committee, yesterday. They were accompanied by a team of UNAMID officials to Um Dukhun to mediate between the two tribes.. the Salamat and the Misseriya."

  But Haq had not mentioned Chad, or the wider military crackdown in Darfur. So Inner City Press asked:

Inner City Press: you gave a readout on Darfur, there are reports of Chad soldiers crossing into Darfur in some capacity and actually some of them being killed, in fighting in Darfur. Since there is a UN mission there, one, can you confirm the entry of Chadian troops and what is their role in the tribal fighting that the UN is trying to mediate and flying people to?

Acting Deputy Spokesperson Haq: We’ll check with UNAMID

  Twenty four hours went by when at 12:09 the next day, once the next noon briefing has already started (so no research for any follow-up questions could be done), Haq's office provided this:

Subject: Your question on Darfur
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 12:09 PM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com
Cc: Farhan Haq [at] un.org

Regarding your question on Darfur at yesterday’s Noon Briefing, we have the following from the Department of Peacekeeping Operations:

“As Um Dukhun is located very close to the Chadian border, Chad-Sudan joint border patrol forces were the first to intervene and disengage the fighting tribesmen, when the conflict between Misseriya and Salamat erupted in the town. Chad and Sudan have an official agreement to jointly patrol their border.

UNAMID is trying to confirm if there were Chadian soldiers among the casualties.”

  Compare this response by the UN and UN Peacekeeping, led by Herve Ladsous who met with ICC-indicted Omar al Bashir in July with nothing to show for it, to reports that

"Chad helicopters struck at a rebel camp in Tissi, close to the Sudan-Chad border. The base under attack is reported to belong to the Union of Forces for Resistance (UFR). Earlier in the year the rebel group threatened the government that they would reach for their arms after an extended wait for peace talks to be initiated. In a separate attack Chad-Sudan troops are reported to have sustained casualties while battling Salamat tribal fighters in Darfur today. The number of casualties is still unknown. The tribal militia is also reported to have sustained 'heavy' casualties during the battle in Umm Duukhun."

  So how could the UN's billion dollar mission in Darfur have nothing to say about a neighboring country conducting helicopter attacks, instead focusing on its own flying of a Wali?

  It should be remembered that the UN flew Ahmad Haroon, also indicted by the ICC, to meet with (and rally) the Miseriya in Abyei. It must also be noted that Ladsous decided to include Chad's Army in his peacekeeping in Mali, despite Chad being on the UN's own list of child soldier recruiters.

  To this has the UN sunk. Then at Tuesday's briefing, Haq's chiding response, after dodging questions on Uganda's claims against the UN ("ask the AU") and Israel treating those injured in the Golan ("haven't heard of it"), was to say that Central African Republic shouldn't be shortened, as nearly all on the Security Council do, to "CAR."

  So the UN can pronounce very precisely -- but refuses to come clean about Chad attacks into Darfur, or if Ladsous' DPKO has any Standing Claims Commission anywhere in the world. On November 18, it was "not a yes or no question." 

  And on November 19? No answer at all. Watch this site.

   

UN Still Won't Say If Has Any Claims Commissions After Haiti Cholera, "Not a Yes or No Question"

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 18 -- At the November 14 UN noon briefing, referring to the Haiti cholera lawsuit against the UN, Inner City Press asked if any UN Peacekeeping mission has in fact established one of the Standing Claims Commissions provided for in their Status of Forces Agreements.

  UN acting deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said that actually setting these up depends on the request of the mission's host government. But that not only ignores the power relations, it does not answer the yes or no question: has any Standing Claims Commissions been set up?

  Haq referred to the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. But its chief Herve Ladsous has refused to answer basic Press questions, such as about the 135 rapes at Minova by DPKO's partners in the Congolese Army.Video here, UK coverage here. So would will this simple question be answered?

  Not on November 18. Inner City Press asked again, yes or no. Haq said the question had been put to DPKO, but it's "not a yes or no question."Video here. If the answer's yes, can't it be said in four days? And if no - what's the explanation? Or does the UN, and DPKO under Ladsous, think they can just not answer?

November 14, 2013:

  November 18, 2013:

Likewise, on November 14 Haq was asked for a comprehensive list of UN Under Secretaries Generals and Assistant Secretaries General. He said these are announced. But Inner City Press asked, what about long-standing, part-time officials? Where is the list?

  As a follow up, Inner City Press asked Haq for the UN Secretariat's response to criticism of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon seeking to move his close associate Robert Orr from an ASG position funded by used portions of other empty budget lines to a new USG position, while seeking cuts elsewhere.

  Haq didn't provide a defense of this, other than saying that any new position is up to the General Assembly and if created would be recruited for in an open and transparent process. An example of why some doubt that is the refusal to answer simple questions like: does any DPKO Peacekeeping Mission have a Standing Claims Commission? That should be answered.

Footnote: after Inner City Press asked about Haiti cholera on November 14, including Stephen Lewis' statement that the UN should admit responsibility and try to make victims whole, Pamela Falk the president of UNCA, now known as the UN's Censorship Alliance, jumped onto the topic in essence to help the UN out.

  She said that Haq has been open, and raised a reason why the UN might still not be screening peacekeepers for cholera before deployment: the World Health Organization. What was the purpose of such a question? Especially after when the UN mis-answered Inner City Press' first question on this, saying that the UN does not screen, then admitted that it doesn'tonly when Inner City Press asked again. Open? Keep an eye out for that hard-hitting coverage -- not.

   

On South Sudan, Hilde Johnson Downplays Copter's Mis-Use and Shoot-down, Disappeared Tweet: DPKO No Answer on Claims Commisisons: Pattern under Ladsous

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 18 -- When the UN's envoy to South Sudan Hilde Johnson gave an open briefing to the Security Council on Monday morning, she did not give any update on the shooting down of a Russian helicopter and the death of the pilots.

   She did however accuse South Sudan of "67 cases of SOFA violations... among them threats, assaults and detention of UN personnel."

  After Johnson spoke, South Sudan's Permanent Representative Francis Deng said, with less specificity, that complaints against Johnson's UNMISS mission had been made to him, and he had briefed Johnson about them.

  Inner City Press went to the UN's noon briefing on Monday and asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Farhan Haq if there was any update on the shooting down of the helicopter, and on the violations by UNMISS alluded to by Ambassador Deng, himself a former UN official. Haq responded that Johnson might be taking questions after the Security Council meeting.

  When Johnson appeared, with at least two spokespeople, she said she would take two questions. Inner City Press asked for an update on the helicopter's shooting down, after so much time.

  Johnson replied that soon there will be accountability, though some mechanism set up by president Salva Kiir.

  But Inner City Press understands that even in closed door consultations, Hilde Johnson did not bring the matter up. Rather, she was twice asked about it, including being told that it is inappropriate for UN Peacekeeping to send civilian helicopters ferrying into dangerous militarized zones.

  Accountability for the shoot down must include the UN Mission which sent these copters in. Is this why Johnson doesn't raise it, not only in the open briefing, but also in the closed?

  On the complaints Deng alluded to, she replied that there is a communications process and she will briefing the National Aliens Committee on any misunderstanding. The result is that the UN publicly makes specific enumerated complaints against the host country, but refuses to provide any specific information about complains made about or against the UN Mission.

  Finally, Inner City Press asked Johnson about the "disappeared" tweet by an UNMISS staffer on which it previously reported: Mathilde Kaalund-Jørgensen of the UN Mission in South Sudan tweeted this:

"#breaking Lou Nuer youth are mobilising in big numbers leaving #Akobo town empty heading towards Dengjok #Southsudan"

  Given previous bloodshed between the Lou Nuer and Murle, and UNMISS inaction, this gave rise to concerns. So much so that the Mathilde Kaalund account profile disappeared from Twitter.

  This came after Akobo county commissioner Kuang Rambang accused the UN Peacekeeping mission of unfairness. One way or another, the UN should have responded. But instead, the account simply disappeared.

  On Monday, after Inner City Press asked, Johnson said it never should have been tweeted. More should be said -- including the rights where appropriate for whistleblowers to make things public that the UN may be covering up, for example on having brought cholera to Haiti.

  Also at Monday's UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked for an answer to a question it asked last week, related to the UN bringing cholera to Haiti and then refusing to be accountable. Does UN Peacekeeping in any of its missions have established the Standing Claims Commission provided for it its SOFA or Status of Forces Agreements?

  On Monday, Haq said he had asked DPKO -- whose main spokesperson Kieran Dwyer stood to the side of Johnson's stakeout -- but that it is "not a yes or no question." Really? Does DPKO have any Commissions - if you can't say yes after multiple days, is the answer "no"?

  UN Peacekeeping as a whole is declined into a stonewalling organization under Herve Ladsous: click here for video, here for UK coverage. Each SRSG is free to be more responsive, and should. 

 One might ask: given Hilde Johnson's previous advocacy for children and clean water at UNICEF, what does she think of how the UN and MINUSTAH have dealt with their role in Haiti cholera?

Footnote: While UN Peacekeeping Ladsous says he will not answer Inner City Press' questions, it must be noted: for the two stakeouts Monday on UNMISS, the only questions about South Sudan came from Inner City Press. Another question, predictably, was about Syria, another about Saudi Arabia's Security Council seat for which Jordan is reaching. 

  Maybe Ladsous came arrange another "private briefing" to get his message out, as he did to spin and stonewall on the 135 rapes in Minova by his partners in the Congolese Army. Oh wait - he is privately briefing due-payers, tomorrow. Watch this site.