South Sudan’s government has rejected the deployment of regional troops from neighboring countries, according to a spokesperson for President Salva Kiir.
Advertisement
“I want to assure the people of South Sudan that the rumour that the United Nations has come to impose on us and bring in foreign forces to take the freedom of our country is not there”, said Government Affairs Minister Martin Elia Lomoro.
The Security Council delegation visited a camp housing people, mostly of Machar’s Nuer ethnicity, who fled the bloody fighting. Ateny described it as a diplomatic victory for the government.
The threat of an arms embargo on South Sudan loomed over the meeting amid warnings by the security council, which had approved the deployment of the protection force in mid-August, that it would pursue such action if the government in Juba did not accept the additional peacekeepers.
It would be recalled that South Sudan was plunged into violence in early July, just before the fifth anniversary of the country’s independence.
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.
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is calling for an independent commission to question rape victims from a rampage by South Sudanese soldiers at a hotel compound popular with foreigners.
He has also suggested the United Nations peacekeeping mission’s neutrality has been compromised as its camps sheltering displaced people are protecting supporters of the opposition.
He also said it was equally important for the world body to take “serious note of the fact that as long as Salva Kiir remains the head of state, South Sudan will never recover”.
Both government and rebel forces have been accused of widespread abuses in the civil war that began in December 2013 between supporters of Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and former Vice President Riek Machar, a Nuer.
The Associated Press has reported that South Sudanese soldiers rampaged through the Terrain compound during the chaos, targeting Americans and raping women.
“Fundamentally, it’s going to be the tribes themselves and the political leadership of this country that are going to have to come together”, added Power.
“As a mother I can’t imagine that choice”, Power said.
Council members will also engage with civil society organizations, community leaders, women and youth groups to obtain firsthand perspectives on the security situation, their needs, challenges, the impact of the conflict on communities, and solicit their views.
Advertisement
“I want this country to be peaceful so my children can go back to school”, said Rebecca Julio, a mother of four.
