By Denis Dumo and Michelle Nichols
In Summary
- South Sudan still needs to agree the number and nationality of United Nations peacekeepers for a protection force, a government minister said on Tuesday, a day after President Salva Kiir approved the deployment in a bid to avoid a UN arms embargo.
- South Sudan Minister of Cabinet Affairs Martin Elia Lomoro said on Sunday that the government had no objection to who contributes soldiers.
- However, some Security Council diplomats said South Sudan had concerns about some neighbouring countries, like Ethiopia, sending troops.
South Sudan still needs to agree the number and nationality
of United Nations peacekeepers for a protection force, a government
minister said on Tuesday, a day after President Salva Kiir approved the
deployment in a bid to avoid a UN arms embargo.
Kiir publicly consented to the protection force, authorised by
the UN Security Council last month, after meeting with council envoys, led by US Ambassador Samantha Power,
on Sunday in Juba. However, a joint statement after the meeting noted
that the details of the troop deployment still needed to worked out.
Government spokesperson Michael Makuei said on Monday the
country also needed to "agree on the armament, we need to agree on the
deployment, we need to agree on the time frame."
In the wake of deadly violence in Juba in mid-July between
Kiir's troops and soldiers loyal to opposition leader Riek Machar, the
Security Council authorised a 4,000-strong regional protection force as
part of the 12,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission already on the ground,
known as UNMISS.
The council has mandated the force until December 15.
"If we don't accept it, if we don't agree with that, nobody will
enter South Sudan. Anybody who enters without our consent is 'an
invader'," Makuei told reporters.
The council threatened to consider an arms embargo if UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reported in mid-September that Kiir's
government was not cooperating on the protection force and was still
obstructing peacekeepers already on the ground.
"We're going to want to see a significant acceleration in
operational discussions about the deployment of the force," Power told
Reuters, warning the South Sudanese government not to go back to "first
principles or challenging consent."
"There are very conflicting signals because there are some who,
if they had a choice, would expel UNMISS tomorrow," Power said. "So the
real question is: is there going to be united and consistent
follow-through on the direction that the president gave last night by
making that commitment?"
East African regional bloc Igad pushed for a protection force
and has pledged to provide troops. South Sudan Minister of Cabinet
Affairs Martin Elia Lomoro said on Sunday that the government had no
objection to who contributes soldiers.
However, some Security Council diplomats said South Sudan had
concerns about some neighbouring countries, like Ethiopia, sending
troops.
"We have heard some names of the countries which can substitute
regional neighbouring countries - Zambia, Zimbabwe were mentioned," said
Deputy Russian UN Ambassador Petr Iliichev, after the council envoys
met with the African Union Peace and Security Council in Addis Ababa on
Monday.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 but slid into
civil war in 2013 after Kiir sacked Machar as his vice president. The
pair signed a peace deal a year ago but fighting has continued and
Machar has now fled to neighbouring Sudan.
-REUTERS
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