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South Sudan says UN protection force turned water fetching force

UNMISS peacekeepers from Rwanda wait to escort members of the visiting U.N. Security Council on Friday, September 2, 2016 (AP/Justin Lynch file Photo)
UNMISS peacekeepers from Rwanda wait to escort members of the visiting U.N. Security Council on Friday, September 2, 2016 (AP/Justin Lynch file Photo)

January 23, 2018 (JUBA) – South Sudanese government claimed the regional protection force for whose deployment as the cause of fury and threats from the international community has since deployment turned into water fetching force, questioning the objective of its original mandate.

The Transitional Government of National Unity through its cabinet affairs minister has criticized the existence of the Regional Protection Force (RPF) in Juba, saying they are doing nothing in the country. Cabinet Affairs Minister Martin Elia Lomuro said the protection force was now doing nothing in the country after giving the government a lot of headaches.

“They have threatened us with an arms embargo, travel ban on individuals, assets freezes and are now quiet,” said Lomuro. “We will go and tell the IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on Development) to either empower the CTSAMM (Ceasefire Transitional Security Arrangement Monitoring Mechanism) or work properly or to use the RPF (Regional Protection Force) which is doing nothing in the country,” said Lomuro.

“They are doing a thing. They are just fetching water,” he further added.

n August 2016, the UN Security Council, following a request by the regional body Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), approved the deployment of 4,000-strong RPF force to secure Juba in the aftermath of renewed clashes there.

The force is meant to protect civilians from gang rapes and other abuses seen during the fighting of July 2016. This additional force would beef up the existing 13,000-strong UN peacekeeping troops.

The cabinet affairs minister, who made the remarks broadcast by the state-owned South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation on Tuesday, said the regional protection force was only engaged in collecting water from the river, moving at “the speed of zero distance per hour” and causing traffic jams in Juba.

The regional protection force, according to Minister Lomuro, should be useful in bringing peace in the country or should go back and hand over the role to the CTSAMM and UNMISS because they “were not doing enough apart from working at the Protection of Civilians sites”.

The minister reiterated previous claims by the government, saying the RPF wanted to take control of the country and must, therefore, leave the country since they are doing nothing.

(ST)

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