UNMISS calls for use of force in Bor when threatened
April 13, 2013 (BOR) – The United Nations in South Sudan called on Saturday for the mission’s peacekeepers in Jonglei to use force in self defense when threatened or attacked in their areas of operation.
The announcement comes as senior UN officials visited Jonglei sate, where five UN soldiers and seven other staff were killed in the Gumuruk area, while travelling in a convoy from Bor, the state capital, to Pibor town.
The UN Assistant Secretary-General for Field Support, Anthony Banbury, told the media on a visit to Bor on Saturday that the 6,500 soldiers deployed as peacekeepers with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) have “a right to use force in self defense in defense of their mandate.”
He asserted that “UNMISS has very strong civilian protection mandate and is prepared to use force when attack and if civilians under their care are threatened” as per their chapter seven mandate from the UN Security Council.
Banbury described the April 9 attack as “brutal and unjustified”, calling for the government to investigate to bring the perpetrators to book. South Sudan’s government has blamed rebels for the attack but this has been denied by David Yauyau, who is leading a rebellion in Jonglei state.
The UN secretary general and many other diplomats have condemned the attack.
Banbury said he “appreciated the strong respond of SPLA and South Sudan police for rendering assistant to UN peacekeepers in Jonglei during the attack”.
The senior UN official said they are “focusing on insuring the safety operation of the UN personnel in their operation in Jonglei state, so that together with the government, we can carry out vital work that is so important to the people of this area”.
“Security is essential”, he said but added that the UN also needed “to think about education, agriculture development, health care, things that are so important to men, women and children of this state.”
He added that “the United Nations is committed to do what we can in partnership with the government so that the people of Jonglei state will have a brighter future”.
Banbury was joined on his visit to Bor by the head of the UNMISS, Hilde Johnson, who is the Special Representative of UN Secretary General to South Sudan.
“As head of mission”, Johnson said, “I have condemned the attack in the strongest possible terms and a need for investigations to find out what happened to bring perpetrators to account”.
Despite the brutal attack on the UN peacekeepers in Jonglei, Johnson said the mission remains “undeterred by what had happened, our mission continues and we will not be affected by what happened or intimidated by it. At the same time, we need to make sure that the safety and security of our forces and our staff is secured”.
“We are now putting in place measures to make that happen”, she said.
“I am here to convey to our national and international staff who lost their dear ones, as well as to our forces, that we are taking every possible step to secure their safety”, she said.
(ST)