Russia, China, Egypt and Venezuela, the Council members that abstained, had criticized some provisions in the resolution.
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Rebel leader and former first vice president Riek Machar fled during the fighting and says he will return only when regional peacekeepers secure the capital.
The Security Council’s approval came as the mandate of the current peacekeeping operation, known as the U.N. Mission in South Sudan, or UNMISS, was about to expire. The intervention force will supplement the regional effort to cement peace and protection of civilians in South Sudan.
Roughly 82,000 of those who have sought refuge across South Sudan’s southern border in 2016 have moved in the last five weeks, UNHCR said.
Those fleeing to Uganda in recent weeks – 90 percent of whom are women and children – have increasingly reported being targeted in robberies and sexual assaults, UNHCR said.
The idea to deploy a regional force was decided at a summit of Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an East African bloc and also a main actor in resolving South Sudan crisis.
The resolution does not impose an arms embargo as many, including more than a dozen US lawmakers, have demanded but instead threatens a possible arms embargo if South Sudan does not cooperate, diplomats said.
After the Security Council vote on Friday, a spokesman for Kiir said the government would not accept the force.
Presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said “the door is open” but would not say whether South Sudan has dropped its objection to the force answering to the existing United Nations peacekeeping mission. The mandate of the force would prioritize the protection of civilians and act to bolster the tenuous peace process in the country.
The resolution passed at the 616th meeting of the AU’s PSC in Addis Ababa on Thursday also called for deployment of a third party protection force in Juba to take charge for the security in the capital. The best way to enhance global leverage is to impose targeted sanctions on spoilers and move forward with an arms embargo.
“We just want our future to be good”, Alice said of her second escape from the conflicts that have torn her country apart. “On that we have failed”, Britain’s deputy United Nations ambassador, Peter Wilson, told the Security Council. He has refused to return to Juba unless more global troops are deployed. Kiir has since appointed a new vice president.
But in late 2013, when the country descended into civil war, prompted by a split between President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar, the United Nations mission’s responsibilities changed dramatically.
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While a peace treaty was signed last August, war has broken out again, prompting the United Nations to consider intervening.
