South Sudan’s government has accepted the deployment of a 4,000-strong regional protection force recently mandated by the United Nations Security Council, in addition to the roughly 12,000 UN peacekeepers already serving in the African nation.
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A delegation of visiting diplomats from the UN Security Council has pledged a “fresh spirit of cooperation” with the government of Salva Kiir, following talks during which they also pleaded with the government to allow reinforcement of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
Political rivalry between President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar led a civil war in 2013, but although the sides signed a peace deal a year ago, fighting has not stopped. Many in South Sudan are skeptical of bringing in more. The new force, created to protect civilians in the capital, would bolster the more than 12,000 peacekeepers already in the region.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 but slid into civil war after Kiir sacked Machar as his vice president.
UNMISS bases have been overwhelmed by influxes of displaced civilians, leaving peacekeepers struggling to police large populations and protect overstretched perimeters that have come under threat.
Their stay will include visits to the United Nations camps that now accommodate hundreds of thousands of civilians within the capital as well as other parts of the country.
Soon after the delegations arrival in the capital, Juba, US Ambassador Samantha Power said the Council members are completely united in our desire to see peace in South Sudan and to see the people of this country live with the security and the dignity that they have craved for a very long time.
UN Security Council secures consent from South Sudan’s government for deployment of additional forces.
A force of some 12,000 United Nations peacekeepers is already in the country, and South Sudan has been wary of giving it more authority amid ongoing clashes with opposition forces. “I know I would go and take that risk for my children, I think any mother would”.
The conflict between forces loyal to Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and Machar, a Nuer, has often followed ethnic lines.
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But France’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Alexis Lamek, told UN Radio the efforts are purely focused on the safety and welfare of the South Sudanese. To this end, the Transitional Government of National Unity commits to devising a plan with UNMISS by the end of September 2016 on concrete steps to remove impediments to UNMISS’s ability to implement its mandate, including reviewing procedures related to movement of UNMISS and streamlining bureaucratic processes.
