The United Nations has criticised Kazakhstan over photos showing armed personnel wearing the world body’s iconic blue helmets during last week’s violence and a crackdown on protests that left more than 160 people dead.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Monday said the UN had complained to Kazakhstan’s diplomatic outpost in New York about the apparent use of UN peacekeeping equipment and said the issue “had been addressed”.
Over the weekend, journalists posted photos on social media showing troops on Kazakhstan’s streets wearing UN blue helmets – which are only allowed to be worn by peacekeepers operating under a UN Security Council mandate.
“Any UN troop and police contributing countries are to use UN insignia only when they are performing their mandated tasks as UN peacekeepers,” Mr Dujarric said in answer to a question from The National.
“We have conveyed our concern to the permanent mission of Kazakhstan directly on this issue, and we've received assurances from them that this issue had been addressed.”
Kazakhstan’s UN mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The blue helmet worn by UN peacekeepers symbolises perhaps the best-known function of the world body. The UN has more than 86,000 personnel from 121 countries deployed in a dozen missions in the world’s hotspots.
According to UN data, Kazakhstan contributes to UN missions, with 16 service people deployed at the end of October. They are allowed to wear official UN peacekeeping gear only when operating under a UN mandate.
Protesters took the streets of Almaty and elsewhere in Kazakhstan on January 2 over fuel price hikes, but demonstrations quickly morphed into broader complaints about corruption and discontent with the authoritarian government.
The government revoked the fuel price increase and the ministerial cabinet resigned, but order was not restored until troops from Russia and other members of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) deployed to Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev blamed "terrorists" for the violence and authorised a shoot-to-kill order for police and the military to restore order.
Nearly 8,000 people were detained across the country, Kazakhstan's Interior Ministry said on Monday.
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Based: Dubai with operations in the UAE and US
Sector: Tech
Size: 20 employees
Stage of funding: Seed
Investors: Three founders (two silent co-founders) and one venture capital fund
Company profile
Name: Dukkantek
Started: January 2021
Founders: Sanad Yaghi, Ali Al Sayegh and Shadi Joulani
Based: UAE
Number of employees: 140
Sector: B2B Vertical SaaS(software as a service)
Investment: $5.2 million
Funding stage: Seed round
Investors: Global Founders Capital, Colle Capital Partners, Wamda Capital, Plug and Play, Comma Capital, Nowais Capital, Annex Investments and AMK Investment Office
HAJJAN
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Ponti
Sharlene Teo, Pan Macmillan
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
THURSDAY'S ORDER OF PLAY
Centre Court
Starting at 10am:
Lucrezia Stefanini v Elena Rybakina (6)
Aryna Sabalenka (4) v Polona Hercog
Sofia Kenin (1) v Zhaoxuan Yan
Kristina Mladenovic v Garbine Muguruza (5)
Sorana Cirstea v Karolina Pliskova (3)
Jessica Pegula v Elina Svitolina (2)
Court 1
Starting at 10am:
Sara Sorribes Tormo v Nadia Podoroska
Marketa Vondrousova v Su-Wei Hsieh
Elise Mertens (7) v Alize Cornet
Tamara Zidansek v Jennifer Brady (11)
Heather Watson v Jodie Burrage
Vera Zvonareva v Amandine Hesse
Court 2
Starting at 10am:
Arantxa Rus v Xiyu Wang
Maria Kostyuk v Lucie Hradecka
Karolina Muchova v Danka Kovinic
Cori Gauff v Ulrikke Eikeri
Mona Barthel v Anastasia Gasanova
Court 3
Starting at 10am:
Kateryna Bondarenko v Yafan Wang
Aliaksandra Sasnovich v Anna Bondar
Bianca Turati v Yaroslava Shvedova
The schedule
December 5 - 23: Shooting competition, Al Dhafra Shooting Club
December 9 - 24: Handicrafts competition, from 4pm until 10pm, Heritage Souq
December 11 - 20: Dates competition, from 4pm
December 12 - 20: Sour milk competition
December 13: Falcon beauty competition
December 14 and 20: Saluki races
December 15: Arabian horse races, from 4pm
December 16 - 19: Falconry competition
December 18: Camel milk competition, from 7.30 - 9.30 am
December 20 and 21: Sheep beauty competition, from 10am
December 22: The best herd of 30 camels
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Engine 3.5L V6
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Fuel economy, combined 14.1L / 100km
Company profile
Company: Verity
Date started: May 2021
Founders: Kamal Al-Samarrai, Dina Shoman and Omar Al Sharif
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Size: four team members
Stage: Intially bootstrapped but recently closed its first pre-seed round of $800,000
Investors: Wamda, VentureSouq, Beyond Capital and regional angel investors
MATCH INFO
Mumbai Indians 186-6 (20 ovs)
Kings XI Punjab 183-5 (20 ovs)
Mumbai Indians won by three runs