The United Nations Mission in South Sudan has imposed limits on reporters' access to UN-run 'protection sites' in South Sudan where close to 200,000 people are living in harsh and sometimes overcrowded conditions after fleeing attacks on their villages or neighborhoods, journalists say.

UNMISS' policy of running 'Protection of Civilians (PoC) sites' dates to the beginning of the South Sudanese civil war when thousands of citizens first sought the peacekeepers' protection as hundreds of ethnic Nuer were killed in the capital Juba.

The population of the protection sites in various parts of the country has fluctuated throughout the civil war, with seasonal rains and occasional unexpected new influxes of refuge-seekers overwhelming camp services and resulting in unsanitary and overcrowded conditions.

At least three times during the war attackers have breached the perimeter of UN bases where people were taking shelter and killed people inside: Akobo (December 2013), Bor (April 2014) and Malakal (February 2016). In other cases, women collecting firewood near the bases have been raped or abducted.

Journalists who spoke to Radio Tamazuj in a series of exchanges this week explained that the UNMISS Public Information Office (PIO) regulates journalists' access to the PoC sites. Some journalists said they were able to enter PoC sites without problems, but others described a pattern of restrictions that have made it more difficult to report on rights abuses, camp conditions and violence.

One journalist said that the UNMISS PIO tried to obstruct his reporting on an attack on civilians in the Malakal protection site, while another said that time limits imposed on visits to the camps made it difficult to carry out human rights investigations. A third journalist said he was denied travel clearance to the Bentiu PoC during a government military offensive in May 2015.

“The PIO has been systematically restricting access of journalists to the POCs. This seems to have coincided with the rise in insecurity and crime inside the camps,” explained one journalist who has worked inside the protection camps previously but now finds it increasingly difficult.

'Trying to minimise negative publicity'

“I think these restrictions in some way reflect a certain lack of confidence in their own ability to control the camps, but even more so it looks like they are trying to minimise negative publicity about living conditions, crime or lapses in protection of civilians,” the journalist told Radio Tamazuj.

The journalist noted that UNMISS PIO have denied entry to a PoC on the grounds that tensions were high, and have also imposed time limits on how long they could work in the camps.

“I was also only given three hours to do my work, which wasn't enough to pursue the angle I had in mind. These restrictions on duration of stay are really problematic, as they don't allow you to pursue any sort of in-depth coverage let alone investigations.”

According to a UN document produced as a 'guide' to visiting journalists, UNMISS PIO requires information on “the duration and type of visit” of any journalist seeking to enter into a protection site.

In addition to this, according to a second journalist interviewed by Radio Tamazuj who had recently visited one of the protection sites, the UNMISS Public Information Office also “demanded I tell what I was going to be asking about, because any political questions were restricted.”

The journalist noted that they also tried to provide a 'minder' to accompany him during interviews. Two other journalists confirmed that escorts had been required, though one journalist said they did not feel this was restrictive and “was confident it was just a security measure.”

Other restrictions involve travel to protection sites away from the state capital Juba. The UN guide for visiting journalists also says that UNMISS will not allow journalists to travel on the peacekeepers' aircraft unless they “provide a letter from their respective media organizations/editor stating the objective of their visit to South Sudan.” This requirement is in addition to government accreditaton, which UNMISS requires of international journalists.

Additionally, the peacekeeping mission imposes a limit of two-nights stay at its Bentiu protection site, at a charge of $118 per night, according to the same document. According to one journalist, the restriction makes it “impossible” to do human rights reporting with only a single day in Bentiu.

A third journalist confirmed UNMISS efforts to restrict access to the protection sites saying, “It mostly revolves around them blocking access through not letting us board flights.”

Journalists noted that the restrictions have increased since the beginning of the conflict. "It was common to enter a PoC at short notice and spend all day inside gaining a nuanced view of what was going on inside," said one of the journalists. "But in the last year or so UNMISS has added paperwork and other rules making it more difficult to do that."

'Excuses to get me off the base'

Justin Lynch, another journalist interviewed by Radio Tamazuj, says that he was trying to report on a breaking story in Malakal in mid-February this year when he was called by UNMISS PIO and told to leave the city immediately.

Lynch arrived to Malakal on 18 February, coincidentally on the morning after nighttime fighting began in the UN protection site, which adjoins the mission's peacekeping base in Malakal. After flying into the town and arriving at the UN base at mid-day, Lynch heard shooting still underway at the base.

He spent the day at the UN base and protection site taking pictures and interviewing.

“Around 7 oclock, I happened to walk by the press office, and the officer told me I had a call from Juba. On the other end of the line was Shantal, who said I had to get back to Juba,” he said, referring to Shantal Persaud, UNMISS Public Information Officer.

Persaud's call came only a few hours after AFP news agency published online a photo report from Malakal by Lynch.

“She told me that they were evacuating all non-essential personnel from the PoC, and I also had a paperwork error, and I had to fly back to Juba the following day. Both were just excuses to get me off the base, and I knew that. It was an extremely aggressive phone call, and I said first under no circumstances would I leave. Shantal threatened to call security and escort me out of the base,” he said.

In a follow-up call, Lynch says he asked Persaud specifically “if I was being kicked off the base, or being asked to leave. She did not directly answer the question.”

Lynch says that UNMISS PIO then arranged for him to take a flight back to Juba, earlier than his scheduled return date, but he opted to skip the flight. He told Radio Tamazuj in an email that he felt that the UNMISS press office was not providing accurate information to the public about the situation in Malakal, so he wanted to stay behind himself to investigate.

At the time, UNMISS' information office had released a press statement saying that there was inter-communal conflict inside the protection site in Malakal, while glossing over reports that the base had been attacked from outside by soldiers who joined in the inter-ethnic fighting.

Lynch, on the other hand, filed reports on an American news website offering a different and more detailed version of events. Citing UN security staff, aid workers and civilians, he said that “around 50 soldiers from the South Sudanese government... breached the walls of the camp with weapons.”

He also reported that it took UNMISS forces 16 hours before they engaged the attackers and pushed SPLA troops out of the base. “It’s total incompetence,” said one UN security official quoted by Lynch. 

Lynch recalls he thought it was 'inappropriate' that the UNMISS Public Information Office did not want journalists in Malakal. He says that other UNMISS personnel in Malakal encouraged him to stay to report on the situation because they were “frustrated with the information coming out of Juba.”

'We will call security'

After several days in Malakal, Lynch received an email on 22 February from UNMISS' Public Information Office again warning him to leave the UNMISS base. By this point the shooting had stopped and more aid workers and UNMISS personnel were flying into Malakal to deal with the aftermath of the attack on the base.

“This is the second time you’ve missed the flight to come back to Juba,” reads the email from Marie Bracquemont, Deputy Head of the UNMISS Media Monitoring Unit. “I am sure Shantal already explained the reasons why we would like you to come back as soon as possible and I hope you will show some cooperation here in the sake of the support we provided you with to go to Malakal at the first place.”

“As Shantal already outlined, if you fail to check in today, we will have to call security to get you on the flight so please, this is a last warning for you to act quickly,” added Bracquemont.

According to Lynch, after receiving this email he spent one more day in Malakal then flew out on 24 February. In the interim, he says, a UNMISS security officer approached him twice, apparently under instruction to locate him and potentially escort him off the base. In one incident, the security officer found him in the base cafeteria dining with two other UN personnel.

“It was clear that he was sent looking for me,” recalled the American journalist. “In the dining hall, he asked to come with him to his office. I refused, and took out my tape recorder so there would be a record of what happened. The officer's tone changed, and he said he was going to get his boss, and I was under the impression that I could be detained, especially after receiving two threats by UN officials.”

He says he and the UN personnel whom he was dining with laughed off the threat and he was undisturbed until the next day when the same security officer searched out where inside the base he was staying. Lynch willingly left the base the next day and filed a second story with his newspaper after leaving Malakal.

Lynch told Radio Tamazuj that he felt the UNMISS Public Information Office was not acting in good faith. “As the Secretary General noted, what happened in Malakal was a potential war crime, and it's enraging that the UN would restrict access to journalists.” 

'Citizens should be allowed to speak to journalists'

Many people living inside the PoCs in Juba, Bentiu, Malakal and elsewhere have been living there for two or more years. Others arrived during a government offensive in Unity State in early to mid-2015.

Although UN human rights workers have interviewed many survivors within the protection sites, most of their stories have never been told publically, whether on national or international media. UNMISS' own radio station, Radio Miraya, seldom interviews residents inside any of the PoCs.

For other national media outlets as well, interviewing rights victims is already potentially taboo, as it could land a journalist in trouble with authorities. Some media organizations that access the PoC sites limit their reporting largely to humanitarian and public health issues.

Another factor is that most of the PoCs are ethnically segregated, which means that journalists of certain ethnicities might have concerns about being able to safely work in the sites.

On top of UNMISS access restrictions, these factors also contribute to isolating civilians in protection sites from normal media services.

According to one of the journalists who has tried to do research in the PoCs, “The UN usually cites security concerns when they restrict access, which always makes me wonder whose security they are talking about. Personally I have never had issues working inside the POCs.”

“People have always been welcoming and keen to make their voices heard. As free citizens of this country, that is their right, and they shouldn't be prevented from speaking to journalists, no matter what the circumstances,” the journalist said. 

Media 'freedom of movement' affected

UNMISS, however, has cited 'privacy' concerns for camp residents. The UN 'guide' for visiting journalists says, “While it is understandable that journalists want to cover the situation in the country, the characteristics of the conflict pose specific protection concerns for internally displaced people (IDPs) which in turn affect journalists’ freedom of movement within the camp and reporting.”

“Many of the people sheltering in UNMISS peacekeeping bases report having fled their homes for fear of being targeted in violence; it is therefore crucial we maintain a balance and respect their privacy.”

The restrictions also appear to be related to other concerns as well, however. According to a source in Malakal, a “gag order” was issued recently to UN staff not to talk to journalists – shortly after publication of media reports citing UN personnel and aid workers as sources.

According to another source in Bentiu, a similar letter has been circulated by UNMISS among aid workers telling them that all reporters must be announced to UNMISS and may only stay 2-3 days.

The order is relevant because aid organizations also sometimes play a role in facilitating access for journalists to the protection sites. The International Organization for Migration (IOM), for example, manages humanitarian hubs at the PoC sites in Bentiu, Bor and Malakal, which may be used by journalists for accomodation, if sponsored by a humanitarian agency.

A journalist who has generally not had trouble accessing the PoC sites nonetheless pointed out that the peacekeeping mission has a 'huge impact' on the journalistic work, depending on whether it grants access to its helicopters and aircraft or not. 

“When UNMISS are uncooperative about facilitating travel it has a huge impact on my work,” said the journalist who asked not to be identified. “The places where there are POCs are fairly well served by UNHAS [a humanitarian air service], NGO's and even commercial flights but when the UN stops cooperating over transport to the more remote places it's more problematic.”

Photo: A peacekeeper in Bentiu, 2014

Related coverage: 

UN in South Sudan declines to protect IDP camp after deadly attack (30 March)

UNMISS to be investigated over Malakal breach (11 March)

Aid workers struggle in Malakal chaos; number of wounded tops 90 (19 Feb.)

Mass killing at UN protection site in South Sudan (18 Feb.)