South Sudanese forces stopped a UN peacekeeping convoy at
gunpoint and beat the unit's commander in the latest clash with
peacekeepers in the war torn country, a report obtained by AFP on
Thursday said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
told the Security Council that South Sudan's defence minister had
apologized for the September 21 incident in country's capital Juba.
About
100 officers from South Sudan's national security service "surrounded
the convoy and pointed weapons at the vehicles," said the confidential
report sent to the council on Monday.
"At one point the
contingent commander accompanying the convoy was physically assaulted
before diverting to UN House," in Juba, it added.
Guterres
listed 17 incidents during the month of September when convoys were
blocked, peacekeepers harassed and in some cases detained by South
Sudan's forces.
US Ambassador to the United Nations
Nikki Haley is scheduled to visit South Sudan next week as a new
regional push to end the war appears to be struggling to get off the
ground.
UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told the council on
Tuesday that the government had given a "lukewarm response" to the new
peace initiative by the regional IGAD group.
Tens
of thousands have been killed and millions uprooted from South Sudan
since 2013 during a conflict characterized by rape, ethnic massacres and
attacks on civilians.
In his report, Guterres said he
was reviewing the 14,000-strong UNMISS operation in South Sudan and
would present his recommendations to the council before it decides on
extending the mission in December.
The United States is South Sudan's biggest aid provider and a key supporter of its 2011 independence from Sudan.
South
Sudan descended into war in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir
accused rebel leader Riek Machar, his former deputy, of plotting a coup.
Machar is living in exile in South Africa after he escaped heavy fighting in Juba last year, but the fighting rages on.
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