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UN GATE / SDNY COURT, April 26 – 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.

 Now after Guterres and his spokespeople Stephane Dujarric and Melissa Fleming have taken untold public money while refusing Inner City Press' questions about their criminal failure in South Sudan, this petition to Guterres from South Sudanese (for download on Patreon here) - Guterres should be jailed:

"His Excellency Antonio Guterres Secretary-General of the United Nations 405 East 42nd Street New York, NY 10017 USA Re: Concern over Conduct of United Nations Mission in South Sudan in COVID-19 Response Dear Mr. Secretary General, We, the undersigned South Sudanese, write to bring to your attention a situation that has worried us and many citizens of this country about the level of cooperation between the government authorities in our country and the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) with regards to the fight against the global pandemic, COVID-19...

You have probably seen the Head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), your Special Representative, David Shearer, warning of “dire health situation,” in South Sudan on April 2. To the effect, Mr. Shearer contends that “if Corona[virus] gets in…tens of thousands could perish.” He emphasized the extra vulnerabilities facing our country, poor healthcare system, concentration of displaced persons, political instability and compromised immunity due to malnutrition, as reasons why he thinks the spread of Coronavirus here would be a calamity.

Unfortunately, it turned out Mr. Shearer was not talking hypothetically, as he had known for a while that a member of the United Nations staff had shown symptoms of the virus after returning into the country on February 28th but the UN did not disclose this information to South Sudan’s health officials until April 3rd, potentially exposing many people to the disease.

This person was finally tested by local health experts and was confirmed positive, becoming the country’s first confirmed case of COVID-19. South Sudanese are now as afraid for their lives as they are outraged by this UN’s behavior. We expected the chief of UNMISS to have immediately informed the Taskforce of the case the moment it was suspected and to have offered support and collaboration with the government. We  also expected both the government and the UN to have ordered the quarantining of the UN staff who may have come into contact with the first case and to have embarked on testing and contact tracing.

Unfortunately, very little, if any, was done. To some of us who have for a while observed the behavior of some UN staff in our country, this was unsurprising. That is because UNMISS has never been held to account for its actions in this country and often operating a parallel system to the government of the host country. Please note, Your Excellency, that we are not part of the government of South Sudan but just concerned citizens. In fact, we are critical of the government for not taking the UN to task on the proper protocols to fight Coronavirus.

We write to you today to alert you that UNMISS has behaved contrary to the “Status of Forces Agreement,” which spells out the rules governing the relationship between the UN and government. The UN should have offered technical support, given that Mr. Shearer was so candid about South Sudan’s “lack of capacity,” instead of risking the lives of South Sudan’s citizens and keeping quiet about it. The minimum the UN should have done is to be in communication with the country’s health authorities, with the new Taskforce on COVID-19 as well as embark on testing all its staff that are residing in the camps where contacts may have occurred with the first case.

The UN Mission has to date refused to take any of these simple and obvious steps, which are now globally accepted as important measures against COVID-19. We therefore urge your esteemed office to intervene to at least investigate this issue and to compel UNMISS to test its staff or to give South Sudan’s Ministry of Health access to the UN camps for testing and quarantine. It is the lives of millions of already vulnerable South Sudanese that are at stake here and UNMISS needs to be on the right side of history in the fight against the deadly Coronavirus pandemic. We look forward to your prompt action to address our concerns.

 Yours Sincerely, Samuel Taban Youziel Jok Madut Jok Lawrence Korbndy Santino Ayuel Longar Madut Majok Ngor Thuch Mading Agok Augustino Ting Mayai CC: Government of South Sudan CC: UNMISS, Juba"

 On April 23 Inner City Press is exclusively publishing 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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