UN chief warns over escalation of S. Sudan violence
July 11, 2016 (JUBA) – The United Nations Secretary General, Ban ki moon has strongly condemned the escalating violence in and around the South Sudan capital, Juba, calling for end to the fighting.
The council, in a statement, expressed particular shock and outrage at the attacks on UN compounds and protection of civilians’ sites in Juba.
The Council’s statement followed similar expressions of outrage by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), which both earlier today condemned the violence and urged calm in the wake fresh clashes in Juba between soldiers of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and the SPLA in Opposition.
They 15-member council also deplored that separately, UN and diplomatic officials have been targeted, as South Sudan marked its fifth independence anniversary on Saturday.
“The members of the Council condemned in the strongest terms all attacks and provocations against civilians and the United Nations. They emphasized the need for United Nations [civilian protection] sites and United Nations personnel to remain secure,” the Council President, Koro Bessho said in a statement to the Council.
He also expressed firm sympathies and condolences to the families of Chinese and Rwandan peacekeepers who were killed or injured in these attacks in Juba.
The Security Council, in the statement, called for an immediate end to the fighting by all the concerned parties, demanding that Kiir and Machar “genuinely commit themselves to the full and immediate implementation of the peace agreement, including the permanent ceasefire and redeployment of military forces from Juba.”
Further to the statement, the Security Council reminded all parties, including Government security forces, of the civilian character of the protection of civilian sites in South Sudan. As such, Council members stressed that attacks against civilians and UN premises and personnel may constitute war crimes.
They also emphasized the importance of transparent investigations into these crimes and that those involved must be held accountable and could be potentially subject to sanctions as authorized under Council resolution 2206 (2015) for actions that threaten the peace, security or stability of South Sudan.
The Council expressed its support for its mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and its readiness to consider enhancing the Mission to better ensure that the UNMISS and the international community can prevent and respond to violence in South Sudan, the president said.
“The members of the Security Council encouraged States in the region to prepare to provide additional troops in the event the Council so decides. In the interim, [the Council] stressed the need for UNMISS to make full use of its authority to use all necessary means to protect civilians,” further stressed the statement the world body.
“This senseless violence is unacceptable and has the potential of reversing the progress made so far in the peace process,” it added.
In a statement issued Sunday, UNMISS reported that heavy fighting in Juba town, including in close proximity to the UNMISS compounds at UN House Jebel and Tomping, had prompted approximately 1,000 internally displaced people to flee from the UNMISS protection of civilians site (PoC) 1 into the UNMISS compound at UN House Jebel.
The heavy fighting in Juba forced hundreds of civilians to seek protection at UNMISS’ Tomping base, the UN statement said, further adding, “The United Nations is gravely concerned about reports that armed forces have prevented civilians from seeking protection.”
Despite the August 2015 peace agreement that formally ended the war, conflict and instability has spread to previously unaffected areas in the Greater Equatoria and Greater Bahr-El-Ghazal regions.
Last month, for instance, deadly clashes in Wau resulted in the deaths of more than 40 people, while up to 35,000 fled their homes, according to humanitarian agencies.
(ST)