August 15, 2016 – The Security Council yesterday authorized a 4,000-strong regional protection force within the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), “responsible for providing a secure environment in and around Juba,” the capital, N News Center reported.
Reiterating its “grave alarm and concern” at the political, security, economic, and humanitarian crisis in South Sudan, the Council adopted a new resolution extending the UN Mission until 15 December 2016, and authorizing during the same period a Regional Protection Force, which will report to the overall UNMISS Force Commander and “be based in Juba, with the responsibility of providing a secure environment in and around Juba.”
The Council’s move to strengthen UNMISS comes just days before South Sudan marks the one year anniversary of an August 2015 peace accord meant to end the fighting that had erupted two years earlier, and in the wake of recent clashes between rival forces, that broke out in and around the capital, Juba, on 7 July, close to the fifth anniversary of the country's independence.
UN compounds and UNMISS-managed civilian protection sites were attacked during the fighting and, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, a preliminary UN investigation into the violence and its aftermath revealed that Government security forces carried out killings and rapes, and looted and destroyed properties.
Just two days ago, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien, who recently visited the country, reported that the humanitarian situation has witnessed significant deterioration, including in areas that were once relatively stable. Since December 2013, over two million people have fled their homes. Some 1.6 million are displaced within South Sudan and more than 900,000 people have fled to neighboring countries.
The resolution adopted by the Security Council today condemned the fighting in Juba, including attacks against civilians, UN personnel, premises and property, and requested the Secretary-General to expedite investigation into the incidents.
The text further expressed “deep concern at the tense and fragile security situation in the rest of the country,” including armed clashes and violence involving the SPLA and SPLA-In Opposition (SPLA-IO), and armed groups.
By the resolution, the Council decided that while the protection force would be based in Juba, and would support of the outcomes of the Permanent Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Workshop, and in extreme cases, in other parts of South Sudan as necessary.
It also stressed that the Regional Protection Force will carry out its mandate impartially and in strict compliance with international law, including, as applicable, international humanitarian law.
Emphasizing that protection of civilians must be given priority in decisions about the use of available capacity and resources within the mission, the Council, which raised the mission’s troop ceiling form 12,000 to 17,000, also stressed that UNMISS’s mandate includes authority “to use all necessary means to protect United Nations personnel, installations and equipment to deter violence, especially through proactive deployment and active patrolling, to protect civilians from threats, regardless of source. (ENA)