AS SOUTH SUDAN CONFLICT WORSENS, BAN PROPOSES REINFORCING UN PEACEKEEPERS

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PREPARATIONS FOR UPCOMING SYRIA PEACE CONFERENCE 'ON TRACK,' SAYS UN
CHIEF - PREPARATIONS FOR UPCOMING SYRIA PEACE CONFERENCE 'ON TRACK,'
SAYS UN CHIEF New York, Dec 23
12:46 pm
From: UNNews <UNNews@un.org>
Date: 23 Dec 2013 15:00:00 -0500
Subject: AS SOUTH SUDAN CONFLICT WORSENS, BAN PROPOSES REINFORCING UN
PEACEKEEPERS
To: news11@ny-mail-p-lb-028.ptc.un.org

AS SOUTH SUDAN CONFLICT WORSENS, BAN PROPOSES REINFORCING UN
PEACEKEEPERSNew York, Dec 23 2013 3:00PMSecretary-General Ban Ki-moon
called a crisis meeting of his top advisers on the deteriorating
situation in South Sudan today and proposed reinforcing the United
Nations peacekeeping force there in a bid to stem a conflict
increasingly marked by ethnically targeted killings.
"I am determined to ensure that UNMISS [UN Mission in South Sudan] has
the means to carry out its central task of protecting civilians," he
told a news conference at UN Headquarters in New York just hours after
arriving back from a visit to the typhoon-ravaged Philippines.
"I will be spending most of today calling regional leaders and others
to bolster military support for UNMISS, as well as political backing
for efforts to defuse the crisis," he said of the force, which
currently has over 6,800 troops and police in the country, where
tensions burst into open conflict on 15 December when President Salva
Kiir's Government said soldiers loyal to former deputy president Riek
Machar, dismissed in July, launched an attempted coup.
Mr. Kiir belongs to the Dinka ethnic group and Mr. Machar to the Lour
Nuer, and Mr. Ban said he was "especially worried" by reports of
ethnically targeted killings in the conflict, in which tens of
thousands of people have been displaced, including some 45,000 now
seeking protection at UNMISS bases.
On Thursday, an estimated 2,000 heavily armed assailants overran an
UNMISS base in Akobo, in restive Jonglei state, in a brazen attack
that left some 20 Dinka civilians dead along with two UN peacekeepers.
Another peacekeeper was wounded. The assailants, believed to be Lour
Nuer, fled with arms, ammunition and other supplies.
Yesterday UNMISS said that, as a precautionary measure to reduce
pressure on its limited resources, it will relocate non-critical staff
from Juba, South Sudan's capital, to Entebbe in Uganda. It has also
relocated all remaining civilian staff from its compound in the
Jonglei state capital of Bor to Juba. At the same time, the Mission is
planning to reinforce its military presence in Bor and Pariang to
continue fulfilling its mandate to help protect South Sudanese
civilians.
After the crisis meeting, attended by senior advisers, with Mr. Ban's
Special Representative for South Sudan Hilde Johnson and Special
Representative to the African Union Haile Menkerios joining in by
video conference, the Secretary-General said he was sending a letter
to the Security Council with his recommendations for boosting the
protection capacity of UNMISS with additional troops, police and
logistical assets.
"We are already approaching countries to help meet the new
requirements. We are also looking at other peacekeeping missions,
while taking care not to reduce their capacity to respond to threats
where they operate," he added.
"UNMISS is protecting civilians at its bases, supporting humanitarian
deliveries, monitoring the human rights situation and investigating
reports of abuses," he noted, praising "our brave peacekeepers," as
well as the mission's staff and leaders.
"Let me be absolutely clear. The world is watching all sides in South
Sudan. Attacks on civilians and the UN peacekeepers deployed to
protect them must cease immediately. The United Nations will
investigate reports of grave human rights violations and crimes
against humanity. Those responsible at the senior level will be held
personally accountable and face the consequences – even if they claim
they had no knowledge of the attacks."
He stressed that he has repeatedly called on President Kiir and
opposition leaders to come to the table and find a political way out
of this crisis. "Whatever their differences may be, they cannot
justify the violence that has engulfed their young nation," he said of
the country which only became independent in 2011 after seceding from
Sudan.
"They must do everything in their power to immediately ensure that
their followers hear the message – loud and clear – that continued
violence, ethnic and otherwise, is completely unacceptable. Now is
the time for South Sudan's leaders to show their people and the world
that they are, above all, committed to preserving the unity of the
nation that was born out of their long struggle for independence."
Mr. Ban also appealed directly to the people of South Sudan, pledging
full UN support.
"The United Nations stood with you on your road to independence," he
declared. "We will stay with you now. I know that the current
situation is causing great and growing fear. You are seeing people
leave the country amid increasing chaos. The United Nations will stay
with you. We will do our utmost to protect you, to provide the
humanitarian assistance you need, and most of all to help the country
re-gain the path to peace."Dec 23 2013 3:00PM
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