Press TV has conducted an interview with Abayomi Azikiwe, an editor with the Pan-African News Wire from Detroit, about South Sudan President Salva Kiir’s opposition to the increase of United Nations peacekeepers in the African country. Soon after landing, Singh met the Foreign Minister of South Sudan Deng Alor Kuol. They signed a peace deal in August 2015 and then argued over details amid sporadic fighting.
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Now there are 12,000-strong UNMISS force in the Africa’s youngest country.
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General Ellen Margrethe Loj called on Kiir and Machar to ensure that the ceasefire order is conveyed through all security force chains of command in their respective forces so that soldiers return to their barracks, the cessation of hostilities is achieved and order established.
Uganda’s army has begun evacuating its citizens from inside the neighbouring country, and the United States has deployed nearly 50 soldiers to protect its citizens and embassy. The troops only pulled out late a year ago.
“The never-ending cycle of violence, of debastating violence, of South Sudan must come to an end now”.
After leading “Operation Raahat” successfully in Yemen, Singh is at the helm of the government’s “Operation Sankat Mochan” to evacuate Indians from South Sudan.
Kiir said there was no need to add to the 12,000-strong UNMISS force. The president said he is ready to protect Machar and his allies if they come to the compound.
“The current situation in the country remains fluid and uncertain”, United Nations peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told the Security Council late on July 13. So we will not accept even a single soldier. It gained independence from Sudan in 2011.
The council’s 15 members demanded both sides to “genuinely commit themselves to the full and immediate implementation of the peace agreement, including the permanent ceasefire and redeployment of military forces from Juba”.
Forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and his deputy, Riek Machar, “are not implementing what they agreed”, Kutesa said.
On Friday, dozens of Sudanese women and children arrived in Khartoum from Juba, as Sudan also began to evacuate its nationals from South Sudan, which split from the north five years ago. There are now some 13,500 troops and police on the ground.
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“Due to the recent fighting in Juba and subsequent associated operational challenges, the UNMISS and United Nations agencies, funds and programmes in South Sudan have ordered the temporary relocation of some non-critical staff”, the statement said, according to Xinhua.
