...a formerly good idea gone bad...
staff by its army and police.
The government of the world's youngest country has faced pressure from the U.N. Security Council and the United States over beatings of U.N. staff and other incidents in recent months.
U.N. leader
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
complained in a report last week of 67 cases of "harassment, threats, physical assault, arrest and detention of United Nations staff" and seizure of U.N. vehicles between May 7 and November 5.
In one case on October 19, a female U.N. staff member was "severely beaten" in the capital, Juba, and then placed in durance vile
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
following "a traffic encounter with a military pickup carrying armed uniformed men," said Ban's report.
Diplomats said the case involved a convoy of South Sudan's president, Salva Kiir.
"We deeply regret both the character and the number of incidents that have occurred," South Sudan's U.N. Ambassador Francis Deng told a Security Council meeting on his country.
"The government is seriously committed to ending these violations. Orders have indeed been given toward that end and to hold those responsible accountable," Deng said, adding that the country's young army needed more training and "sensitization."
The United States approached South Sudan's U.N. mission last week and China made a similar complaint on behalf of the Security Council.