IF WARS CAN BE STARTED BY LIES, THEY CAN BE STOPPED BY THE TRUTH – JULIAN ASSANGE.
Petition to the UN Secretary General in Protest of the Report of the United Nations Security Council Panel of Experts on South Sudan (S/2020/342) dated April 28th, 2020
From: Lanyjok Jang Kechuol, Michael Mabor Rin, Mabor Deng Kulang and 2 Others
To: His Excellency António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations
Through: The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General, H.E David Shearer.
Dear Sir,
Tuesday, May 05, 2020 (PW) — It is with great concern that we, the undersigned citizens of the Republic of South Sudan, write to you in protest of the recent report of the UNSC Panel of Experts on South Sudan (S/ 2020/ 342) dated April 28th 2020 (hereby referred to as “the report”), listing a few of us mentioned above as part of the militia group run by Major General, Rin Tueny Mabor, Chief of SSPDF Military Intelligence. At the outset, we must genuinely register our appreciation to the tireless and commendable efforts of the mother UN through all its organs present in the country, particularly, UNMISS, in trying to bring durable peace to the people of South Sudan.
Your Excellency,
We would like to protest the contents of the report of the UNSC Panel of Experts on South Sudan dated April 28th, 2020, particularly the sections bearing information relating to our three photographs. The information provided there is fabricated, thereby infringing on the UN core values of integrity and professionalism. The UNSC Panel of Experts on South Sudan in this report stated that:
Michael Mabor Rin, Lino Maborguay, John Meer Acijok and Machiek Kuoi Tut are Militia of Gen. Tueny who move arms to Eastern Lakes State to distribute them to civilians. These four gentlemen are not mentioned by names, but their photographs collected from their facebook walls, featured on Page 44 under the heading “Gen. Tueny’s Militia moving guns to Eastern Lakes”. This allegation is false. Mr. Michael Mabor Rin, Mr. Lino Maborguay Maker, Mr. Meer Acijok and Mr. Machiek Kuoi are all civilians.
The Photograph that has been used was acquired illegally from the Facebook wall of Lino Maborguay Maker Nyeriel (Facebook Account Name: Lino Konybai Jr),who was the Secretary General of the Atuot Youth Association Volunteer Team (AYA-VT), Michael Mabor Rin was the Chairman and John Meer Acijok was the Secretary for information of the said body. The AYA-VT had gone to Eastern Lakes State in July 2018 to request the State Government to allow Atuot Community to hold a Communal conference in December 2018 to address challenges of inter and intra-ethnic clashes, cattle rustling and food insecurity.
The Photo was taken after their car got stuck in the mud on their way back to Juba on the 16th of August 2018. Machiek Kuoi Tut is a dwarf, a person with special needs and was not part of the AYA-VT but was only given a lift to Juba. As a result of this deliberate misrepresentation of information, the report hereby endangers the welfare and safety of the said people and therefore contravenes article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR):
“No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks”.
On Page 45 of the report a photograph of passengers in a plane bearing the heading Mr Ater Tueny Mabor Deng travelling to Yirol on a chartered plane with military instructors January 2020 is attached and information relevant to this photograph is found in Annex 3, section 8, Page 43, alleging that in January 2020, Maj Gen. Tueny sent one of his sons Ater Rin Tueny to the following militia training camps Wunthou, Adior, Pagarau in Eastern Lakes and Panyijar in Southern Liech State.
We would like to assert that Ater Rin Tueny, Majok Anhiem Dhal and Mabor Deng Kulang are civilians and they together with all the other passengers were not going to Wunthou, Adior, Pagarau or Panyijar, they were rather returning from Ater’s marriage which was conducted between the 12th and 16th of January 2020 in Yirol County, Eastern Lakes State. The only soldier in this photo is Captain Martin Mading who is a paternal uncle of the bridegroom and serves at the Bilpam General Headquarters. The United Nations should contact Bilpam General Headquarters for more information regarding this individual.
The person seated beside Ater is called Marek Maker Ater and the person seated behind him is Majok Anhiem Dhal, they are both maternal uncles of the bridegroom. The person smiling behind Ater is Mabor Deng Kulang a cousin of the bridegroom. The photo was taken and posted by Majok Anhiem Dhal on his Facebook wall on the 19th of January 2020 and this is where the UNSC-Panel of Experts acquired it illegally without the consent of Majok and the other parties in the photo.
This report therefore damages the reputations of the gentlemen in this photo and could possibly destroy their careers, particularly Mr. Ater Rin who is an International Pilot and currently working for Rwanda Air. The report endangers the lives, jobs and careers of these youth thereby contravening Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
On Page 45, there is a photo of a young man standing in the middle of the road next to a Toyota Pickup under the title: Maj. Gen. Tueny’s freshly recruited forces transfer to training camps Eastern Lakes February 2020. This gentleman is called Lanyjok Jang Kechuol, an Environmentalist by profession and he was not going to any training camp, he took this photo on his way back to Juba from Yirol on the 10th of February 2020 with a passenger vehicle.
In order to inform his relatives, friends and colleagues that he was on his way, he immediately added it to his Facebook story of the day, and this is where it must have been acquired. Mr Lanyjok Jang is a civilian with no history of military service whatsoever, and he was returning from a holiday in Yirol.
4. CHAPTER VII Article 39 of the UN Charter which is one of guiding pillars of the UNSC states that “The Security Council shall determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression and shall make recommendations, or decide what measures shall be taken in accordance with Articles 41 and 42, to maintain or restore international peace and security.” We are fully convinced that the UNSC Panel of Experts on South Sudan did not establish the existence of this perceived threat beyond reasonable doubt and wrote their report on the basis of inaccurate information obtained from untrustworthy sources, “whom we are aware of”.
What is the impact of this blackmailing of Civilians by UNSC Panel of Experts on South Sudan with regard to building durable peace in the Republic of South Sudan?
Endorsing false allegations against civilians of the Republic of South Sudan is undoubtedly against peace. The United Nations was set up to protect and defend vulnerable people, but now that it is complicit in the malicious blackmailing of individuals by endorsing false allegations without verifying them, brings the impartiality of the United Nations into question.
It is detrimental to the long-standing solid reputation of the UN, when unprofessional and unverified reports like this are used as the basis of its critical decision making on South Sudan. False information like this further creates instability rather building peace, as well, it helps in eroding the confidence of the average citizen on the United Nations.
Recommendation(s)
In light of this shortcoming of the UNSC Panel of Experts report on South Sudan to adequately and impartially determine the existence of the aforementioned threats and its subsequent endorsement of unverifiable accusations against innocent citizens of the Republic of South Sudan, we would like to;
a). Demand that the United Nations under the leadership of the Secretary General remove our photos from the report as soon as possible,
b). Pursuant to Section (c) of the Recommendations of the report of the UNSC Panel of Experts on South Sudan dated April 28 2020, we would like to request the UN to form a Fact Finding Committee to immediately carry out prompt, independent, impartial and thorough investigations into allegations of other forms of violence and Review the entire report with an intention to establish the authenticity of its sources and the veracity of the information the experts have given.
We have full confidence in the internal structures of the United Nations and as a result we would like to bring it to the attention of the United Nations that all the civilian parties implicated in this report would like to escort the United Nations Fact Finding Committee to these alleged training fields for verification. We are prepared to follow the United Nations dispute resolution procedures in pursuit of justice but in the event that the United Nations denies us our fundamental human rights, legal action will be pursued.
The civilian victims of the report of the United Nations Security Council Panel of Experts on South Sudan are ready to provide any further information if need be, please find the contacts listed below.
Yours Sincerely,
Lanyjok Jang Kechuol lanyjook2005@yahoo.com (Signed)
Contact +211928999993
Michael Mabor Rin mikemabor@gmail.com (Signed)
Contact +211922258885
Mabor Deng Kulang mabordengii@gmail.com (Signed)
Contact +211921267473
Ater Rin Tueny aterditrin@gmail.com (Signed)
Contact +250788617275
Machiek Kuoi Tut, Unable to read and write (Signed)
Cc/: Office of the President
Cc/: Min. Of Foreign Affairs
Cc/: Min. Of Justice
Cc/: Min. Of Information
Cc/: South Sudan Human Rights Commission
Cc/: UN Special Representative on Youth
Cc/: South Sudan National Youth Union
Cc:/ All Media Houses