Peace on track but security in South Sudan still fragile – UN envoy
Mar 21, 2006 (UNITED NATIONS) — The Comprehensive Peace Agreement ending the long-running civil war in south Sudan was on track, U.N. envoy Jan Pronk told the Security Council on Tuesday. But he cautioned that the security there was still fragile and troops from UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) should not be redeployed to other areas.
“There were security incidents, but we have been able to contain all of them and to avoid escalation,” he told reporters after the Council meeting, in which he had pointed to tensions resulting from a lagging implementation of the peace agreement and new threats such as the Uganda-based Lord’s Resistance army.
“My warning to the Security Council was, ?Please do not cannibalize our existing force in the South, 10,000, by taking away troops on the basis of your perception that everything is okay,’ because that is not the case,” he said.
In order to consolidate the peace in the south, he called for a substantial increase in resources devoted to Demobilization, Disarmament and Reintegration (DDR) and other post-conflict activities.
“The reconstruction and development deficit in the south is the greatest challenge to peace. If not addressed, people will ask what difference peace has made for them,” he said, adding “After the war, there are plenty of weapons for those who want to grab the scant resources to survive.”
Sudan’s government reached a peace deal with southern rebels in January 2005, and the Security Council approved a peacekeeping mission for the south two months later. It has been slowly deploying ever since and is now up to 80 percent of full strength, Pronk said.
But SPLA units have yet to be disbanded, weapons remain in abundant supply, and violent clashes between rival armed groups are on the rise as a result, he said.
Yet peacekeepers cannot step in because the security mechanism envisioned by the peace deal has not begun functioning and the government has imposed restrictions on U.N. troop movements in the affected areas, he said.
(ST/Reuters/UN)