The draft Security Council resolution, circulated by the United States and obtained Monday by The Associated Press, would make the regional force part of the U.N. peacekeeping force in South Sudan and raise its strength to a ceiling of 17,000 soldiers and worldwide police.
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Deng Alor said on Tuesday that if China agrees, the funds could be used to reopen one of South Sudan’s key oil fields in Unity State that has been shut down since a civil war began in December 2013.
The meeting underscoring the fact that the situation in South Sudan constitutes “a serious threat to regional peace, security and stability” endorsed “the outcome of the meeting of the East African Chiefs of Defense Staff held on 29th July 2016, in Addis Ababa, on the deployment of a Regional Protection Force as the basis for further and urgent discussion with the United Nations towards reaching a common ground on speedy deployment of the Force under UNMISS”, reads a communiqué issued by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the IGAD Plus.
The council will vote on whether to impose an arms embargo if UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reports within a month of adoption of the draft resolution that South Sudan’s transitional government is obstructing deployment of the protection force.
Kiir and Machar signed a peace deal in August 2015 under which Machar was to be first vice president, but fighting continued and last month hundreds of people were killed when army factions loyal to the two men clashed in the capital Juba.
In June, U.N. agencies said up to 4.8 million people in South Sudan face severe food shortages, the highest level since a conflict began. Mahboub Maalim, the head of IGAD, said Friday that Deng Gai has agreed to step down if Machar returns to Juba.
“Mr. Ban called on all South Sudanese leaders to set aside their personal differences and demonstrate their commitment to the implementation of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan, which remains the only viable path to ending the crisis, he added”.
Meanwhile a U.N. report released Friday said the organization’s own peacekeepers failed through a “combination of inaction, abandonment of post and refusal to engage” to protect people who were attacked by gunmen within a U.N. Protection of Civilians site in the city of Malakal.
The draft resolution stresses that UNMISS’ mandate includes authority to use “all necessary means” to protect United Nations personnel and installations and to take “proactive” measures to patrol and protect civilians from threats.
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When asked about their unexpected decision to let in foreign forces in South Sudan, Ateny said they accepted a protection force only not intervention troops.
