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Before Rapes at Terrain in Juba, UN Called It Safe, ICP Asked, Publishes
By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, August 22 -- The UN judged the Terrain Apartments in Juba, South Sudan to be safe and well-protected in October 2015, documents obtained and exclusively published by Inner City Press show. In July 2016 the UN did nothing while those living there were rapes and, in the case of journalist John Gatluak, killed.
Now what?
On July 11, 13 and 14, Inner City Press asked the UN about its lack of response to rapes and killing in the Terrain Apartments in Juba, South Sudan, having been contacted by sources there shocked at the lack of response by the UNMISS mission and others. Video here, including the UN on August 15 claiming after a month to STILL be investigating its negligence.
On August 16, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement that he “has decided to launch an independent special investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding these incidents and to evaluate the Mission’s overall response.” This is a scam - Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric back on July 14 answered Inner City Press' third day of questions about Terrain by saying the UN was already then investigating itself. This is a cover up.
On the morning of August 17 Inner City Press reported that the UN Department of Safety and Security's Chris Du Toit is said by staff to be the one who adjudged the Terrain Apartments to be “safe,” and has now gone “on leave,” like Ban Ki-moon.
The UN Department of Safety and Security's MORSS - Residential Security Survey Report of October 29, 2015 says that “the residence is recommended to UN personnel,” that “UN PK [Peacekeepers]” are “present in the area... guarding the UN House,” and that the gates are in good condition.
At the August 17 noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you about is whether the head of, my understanding is he is or was the head of the UNDSS [Department of Safety and Security] in South Sudan, Chris Du Toit, I'm told that he had in writing deemed the Terrain Apartments to be "safe" for UNFPA [United Nations Population Fund], FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization] and other staff to live in and that he's now just recently gone on leave. Was such a determination made? And how does the UN, in places like Juba, determine and certify off-site places for its personnel to live? [Vine here.]
Deputy Spokesman: Well, first of all, I'm not going to get into the specific facts of the case, which are being determined, like I said, first, by the body that's from the UN Mission that's already been working on this and now by a special investigation that will be formed in the coming days. What I can say more generally is simply that we do rely on our Department of Safety and Security to determine, in any country, where places are that are safe for UN staff to stay.
ICP Question: Right. So, it's fair to say that this was… this place had been determined to be safe? That's why people were living there…
Deputy Spokesman: No, that's not fair to say. I'm not… like I said, I'm not going into any specific facts. Those remain to be determined by the groups who are looking into it....
on August 5, the UN belatedly emailed its Malakal report, or the executive summary, which Inner City Press immediately put online here. On August 8, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokeman Farhan Haq, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: The Malakal report that was released on Friday. It seems like one of the recommendations is that, going forward, any… any failure to respond by TCCs [troop-contributing countries] or police-contributing countries [PCCs] be… it said reported to UN Headquarters and to the TCC or PCC involved. In the spirit of kind of name-and-shame, which is taken to the sexual abuse issue, is there a problem with naming the contingents who either didn't respond