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UN Security Council urges South Sudan to facilitate deployment of regional protection force

Xinhua, September 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

The UN Security Council on Wednesday urged the South Sudanese government to take immediate steps to facilitate the deployment of a new regional protection force in Juba, the capital of the world's youngest country.

Gerard van Bohemen, the UN ambassador of New Zealand which holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council for this month, made the appeal as he was speaking to reporters after a closed-door council meeting on South Sudan.

Council members called on the South Sudanese government to "abide by the commitments it made and to translate them into concrete steps immediately," van Bohemen said.

"They called on the government to finalize with the United Nations the modalities for the deployment," he said.

"Actions, not words" are needed by the government of South Sudan on the issue of the force deployment, van Bohemen said.

The 4,000-strong regional protection force in Juba was approved last month by the 15-nation Security Council and will be put under the command of the UN peacekeeping mission there, known as UNMISS, which currently has about 12,000 armed troops mandated to use lethal force to protect civilians.

The Security Council decided to deploy the new regional force to beef up security in Juba and at the airport there and protect UN facilities after the capital witnessed heavy fighting in July, which killed some 300 people and forced about 60,000 people to flee to neighboring countries.

South Sudan initially rejected a proposal from the African Union to send in foreign troops from regional countries to help serve as buffer force between the government force and the rebel fighters.

The South Sudanese government changed its position after a Security Council mission visited the war-torn country early this month.

South Sudan was founded in July 2011 after it gained independence from Sudan. The country descended into conflicts in December 2013 due to strife between rival factions.

The recent fighting between rival forces -- the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) loyal to President Salva Kiir and the SPLA in Opposition backing former first vice president Riek Machar -- erupted in and around Juba in early July. Endi