UN extends peacekeeping mission in South Sudan for a year
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The UN Security Council on Friday unanimously passed a draft resolution extending its peacekeeping mission in violenceplagued South Sudan by a year.
The US- drafted resolution includes stronger language aimed at protecting civilians, saying peacekeepers should do more to prevent and respond to sexual attacks in the country. It also calls on peacekeepers to monitor, investigate and report on hate speech incidents and incitements to violence.
In a vote of 15- 0, council members also proposed creation of a 4,000-troop Regional Protection Force in addition to the approximately 13,000 peacekeepers already there, mainly to ensure safe movement in and around the capital of Juba and to protect the airport there.
The mandate maintains its original core functions, including the protection of civilians, monitoring and investigating human rights violations and facilitating the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
Two years after the African country’s independence from neighboring Sudan in 2011, South Sudan was plunged into ethnic violence when forces loyal to President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, started battling those loyal to Riek Machar, his former vice president and a Nuer. The document asks both sides to return to a peace deal signed in August 2015.
On Thursday, the council extended the mandate by a day so its divided members could try to reach agreement on prolonging the mission and addressing the crisis in the country. The mission’s mandate expired the same day.