The UN Security Council has implored parties to the South Sudan peace agreement to make every effort to implement the agreement. Its representatives said this during its current visit in the country.
“It is extremely important that enabling environment be created here by all stakeholders to allow for the implementation of that agreement,” said Samantha Power, the US Ambassador to the UN, who is part of the delegation.
She also urged the Transitional Government of South Sudan (TGoNU) to allow the regional protection force that the UN authorized to be deployed in a resolution passed earlier in July.
“There really is no time to delay given the acute humanitarian needs of the population and the insecurity that has plagued too many parts of the country,” she said while addressing the media in Juba.
The delegation is on a three-day mission to engage with the transitional government on the continued operations of the UN Mission in the country, and to improve the security and humanitarian situation in South Sudan.
Samantha Power is accompanied by the Permanent Representatives of the Missions of Senegal, Fode Seck.
Samantha added that allowing the regional protection force in the country would give civilians a chance to receive emergency supplies and enable them to take care of their daily commitments like farming.
The team said they were concerned about the fighting that has been witnessed in the country, and which had worsened the humanitarian crisis in the country. They expressed frustration with the obstruction of UN workers, which had made it difficult for the UN to do its work of protecting vulnerable civilians.
“The negative rhetoric about the UN doesn’t help anybody it just makes the UN a target and endangers South Sudanese civilians, so it has stop,” she said.
The delegation questioned why there has been no accountability for perpetrators of human rights violations. Samantha said the UN would like to see better understanding between the government of South Sudan and all UN bodies, including UNMISS.
The team reiterated that the international community will continue to stand with the people of South Sudan, but urged the government to “allow the UN and the humanitarian community to be the partners that they really want to be again to the South Sudanese people”.
Meanwhile, the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU) has accepted the deployment of the regional protection force, as part of the UN Mission in South Sudan.
The announcement was made in a joint communiqué read out by the Cabinet affairs Minister, Martin Elia Lomuro, at the end of a meeting between President Salva Kiir and the UN Security council delegation.
The government said the deployment of the protection force will improve the security situation in the country.
According to the communiqué, the government committed to permit free movement to UNMISS in conformity with its mandate to protect civilians. This was in response to an earlier complain by the UN team that UNMISS was being frustrated in fulfilling its mandate.
“Government has also committed to improve humanitarian access as provided for in the agreement , by providing assistance in eliminating illegal check points and by reviewing modalities for streamlining bureaucratic processes and access to populations in need,” said Martin Elia Lomuro.
The minister also announced that the government will work with the African Union to form a hybrid court to try perpetrators of past human rights violations.
“The TGoNU will work with African Union in Setting up the Hybrid court for South Sudan, as soon as the African union provides proposals for its work,” Lomuru said.
Besides meeting President Kiir, the delegation also met civil society organizations, who registered their disappointment with the persistent delays in implementing the peace agreement.