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UN peacekeepers are performing poorly

When was the last time you remember reading of the United Nations’ peacekeeping forces actually keeping the peace? Been awhile, hasn’t it?

More likely is that you have seethed over reports of the blue-helmeted “peacekeepers” doing nothing as they watched people be slaughtered.

It happened again a few weeks ago in South Sudan, which has been torn by civil war for three years. The Associated Press learned of atrocities there this week.

On July 11, according to multiple witnesses, rampaging South Sudanese government troops invaded a residential compound in the country’s capital, Juba. The neighborhood is popular with foreigners, including many people who provide humanitarian aid.

For nearly four hours, the soldiers robbed, raped, tortured and murdered. Americans were singled out for brutality.

It may have been that those in the compound felt safe. A U.N. peacekeeping force was stationed less than a mile away, after all. Some foreign embassies, including that of the United States, also were nearby.

Repeated calls pleading for help from the peacekeepers and the embassies brought no relief.

In fact, neither the U.N. nor U.S. officials mentioned the atrocities until asked about them by the AP. U.S. officials said they were in no position to help. A U.N. spokesman said -you guessed it – that the agency takes the attacks very seriously.

But what happened July 11 is far from the first time U.N. peacekeepers have failed to do their jobs. Similar situations have occurred many times in the past. Why this continues to happen should be thoroughly investigated.

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