Amid
Rape
Charges
Against UN in
Liberia,
Delayed Probe,
Disappeared
Article
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 2 -- How
long does it
take the UN to
investigate
its
alleged
wrong-doing,
from
peacekeepers'
rape in
Liberia to
mis-transporting
of weapons by
land contrary
to its
agreement with
South Sudan?
And beyond attacking
press articles,
as UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous did on
South Sudan,
does the UN
play a role in
getting
articles to
disappear?
On
April 30,
Inner City
Press asked
about both
cases. Two
days later,
while US
Secretary of
State is in
Juba, the UN
has yet to
answer the
South Sudan
question. On
Liberia, from
the UN
transcript:
Inner
City
Press: There’s
a report of,
essentially,
rape by an
UNMIL
(United
Nations
Mission in
Liberia)
peacekeeper in
Liberia and
it’s
been reported
in AllAfrica,
from the local
paper there…
it’s
obviously
troubling and
I wonder, what
is UNMIL’s
position? Did
it
happen? Did it
not happen?
And if it did
happen--
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric:
Obviously,
reports of any
sexual assault
by UN
staff or
peacekeeper is
very
troubling; but
I would look
into it. I
don’t have any
information
beyond what
you’ve just
told me.
On
this,
the UN did at
least reply,
two days
later:
Subject:
Your
question on
Liberia
From: UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at]
un.org
Date: Fri, May
2, 2014 at
9:41 AM
To: Matthew
Russell
Lee@innercitypress.com
Regarding
your
qeustion on
allegations
concerning the
UN Mission in
Liberia
(UNMIL), we
have the
following
information
from the
Mission:
Allegations
stemming
from events at
UNMIL on 27
December 2013
are being
investigated.
These include
allegations
against staff
members, as
well as
allegations
made by those
staff
members.This
process is
ongoing.
So,
more than four
months. How
long will it
take? Notably,
after Inner
City Press
asked the
question, the
article was taken down from
AllAfrica's
site.
But on this
the day after
World
Press Freedom
Day, here's
an earlier
one, from a
local paper,
here,
including
national staff
members'
complaints
that "[a]t
the
instruction of
UNMIL's
management,
troops of the
Nepalese,
Nigerian and
Jordanian
Formed Police
Units who
violently
entered the
compound and
mercilessly
beat, raped
and bullied
our colleagues
who
sustained
severe wounds.
National Staff
members were
manhandled,
beaten,
publicly raped
and
ill-treated by
armed officers
of the UNMIL
Jordanian
Formed Police
Unit."
What
role did the
UN play in the
more recent
article being
taken down
from
AllAfrica's
site?
On
South
Sudan, Inner
City Press on
April 30
asked:
Inner
City
Press: On
South Sudan, I
wanted to ask
you about the
Secretary-General’s
statement
yesterday on
South Sudan
where he
said he urged
President Kiir
to intervene
personally to
stop a
negative
campaign
against UNMISS
(United
Nations
Mission in
South
Sudan) and to
issue a public
statement to
this end. What
I wanted to
know is one… I
mean, can you
say… to some
it seems to…
to say
to a leader
to… what does
he mean by
intervene
personally
beyond
issuing a
public
statement? And
number two,
the issues
that have
arisen about
UNMISS, for
example, the
truck of
weapons that
were
going to the
Ghanaian
peacekeepers,
has that
report ever
been issued
publicly? Has
the cluster
bomb report?
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric: I
think the
information on
the weapons
box was
shared with
the Government
of South
Sudan. I think
you know, like
in
any mission,
there are… it
is normal that
sometimes
there are
points of
tension
between the
host country
and the
mission, but I
think here in
South Sudan we
have seen
issues of
having to do
with
our ability to
move around
that is being
hampered.
Attacks on our
compounds
where we feel
the Government
has a
responsibility
to
protect those
compounds, so
I think there
are
improvements
to be made
in the
relationship
between the
Government and
the Mission.
Inner
City
Press: the
reason why I’m
asking about
the weapons, I
still
get e-mails
from over
there from
people saying
they haven’t
seen
the UN report.
So, I wonder
what is the
UN’s own duty
to sort of
work, go to
the public and
say this is
what happened
here,
understand
what we did.
It seems to me
that that
report has
never been
issued
publicly.
Maybe you gave
it to the
Government,
but if people
don’t
know…
Spokesman
Dujarric:
I think we
spoke about
its
conclusions
from here but
I
will double
check.
On
May 2, still
having no
update, Inner
City Press
asked Dujarric
and
his deputy
again. Watch
this site.
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