S. Sudan insists protection forces should be only from the region
April 9, 2017 (JUBA)- South Sudanese government has reiterated its objection to the participation of peacekeepers from outside the region in the Regional Protection Force (RPF), claiming it goes against the resolution of the United Nations Security Council.
Presidential Adviser on Security Affairs Tut Kew Gatluak told Sudan Tribune on Sunday that troops participating in the additional force should be only decided last August.
“The resolution of the Security Council is clear. It calls for deployment of regional protection force. This simply means the force to be deployed should come from countries in the region,” said Presidential Adviser on Security Affairs Tut Kew Gatluak.
“If you bring troops from countries outside the region, then it means something else, and the language has to be revised and this will be another process,” he further.
The presidential aide in his statements to Sudan Tribune echoed the views of the Minister of Information Michael Makuei Lueth who told reporters on Friday after the weekly cabinet meeting that Nepal and Bangladesh are not countries within the region to participate in the deployment of the regional protection force.
“The Council discussed the issue of armament and the deployment of the forces, and not that only but there is one outstanding issue which has just emerged. The forces referred to as the regional protection force, but if you see the list of the countries that are bringing in the forces these forces who are coming in are Nepalese and Bangladesh. These forces are not part of the region, this is one, said Lueth.
“We asked them as to why are you bringing these people. They said we are bringing these people because they are technocrats; they are engineers and medical doctors. And we said this force here in the region, is it true that they have no engineering section and there is no medical corps.”
“So we want to know. If they bring in forces from outside the region, then they are definitely in violation of the agreement, and if they want to bring the forces from outside the region, then they must change the name of the force,” he stressed.
The UN Security Council is expected to discuss the deployment of the 4000 additional force this month and to take a decision over its arrival to South Sudan.
During a visit to Juba last March, the former head of the UN peacekeeping department Hervé Ladsous explained the reasons behind the delay in the deployment of the RPF and announced it would be deployed within weeks.
(ST)