SOUTH SUDAN: UN CALLS FOR END TO VIOLENCE AS PLANNED PEACE TALKS PROGRESS

From: UNNews <UNNews@un.org>
Date: 1 Jan 2014 12:00:00 -0500
Subject: SOUTH SUDAN: UN CALLS FOR END TO VIOLENCE AS PLANNED PEACE
TALKS PROGRESS
To: news11@ny-mail-p-lb-028.ptc.un.org

SOUTH SUDAN: UN CALLS FOR END TO VIOLENCE AS PLANNED PEACE TALKS PROGRESS
New York, Jan 1 2014 12:00PM
Amid set peace talks between the Government of South Sudan and warring
rebels, the head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the
country today urged both sides to make crucial efforts to end the
violence.

"We call for both parties to use this first day of the new year to
take a decisive step for peace," the Special Representative of the
Secretary-General, Hilde Johnson, told journalists in the South
Sudanese capital, Juba. "We want to make this day, the day that the
fighting stopped."

Representatives of President Salva Kiir and former deputy president
Riek Machar are due to meet today in the Ethiopian capital of Addis
Ababa, according to the Intergovernmental Authority on Development
(IGAD), the East African bloc that is mediating the talks.

Ms. Johnson said that she had spoken by phone with Ethiopian Foreign
Minister Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu, who confirmed that the delegations
were expected to arrive "this afternoon".

Cessation of hostilities, opening humanitarian corridors, the issue of
political prisoners, and protection of civilians will form the main
agenda of the talks.

"It is a step in the right direction," said Ms. Johnson, who also
heads the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

She added that negotiations in Addis need to be accompanied by a
deeper process that focuses on national reconciliation, and
reconciliation between the communities which have not healed since
South Sudan won independence from Sudan in 2011 after decades of civil
war.

"The country is at a crossroads. It's at the fork in the road," Ms.
Johnson said. "But it can still be saved from further major
escalations of violence. It is up to the leaders of this country and
the two parties."

Fresh fighting in the world's newest country erupted on 15 December
when President Kiir said soldiers loyal to Mr. Machar, dismissed from
office in July, launched an attempted coup. Mr. Kiir belongs to the
Dinka ethnic group and Mr. Machar to the Lou Nuer, and the conflict
has been increasingly marked by reports of ethnically targeted
violence.

Thousands of people are estimated to have died in the violence and
some 180,000 others have been driven from their homes, up to 75,000 of
them seeking refuge on UNMISS bases, which has been authorized by the
Security Council to almost double its armed strength to nearly 14,000
in an effort to protect civilians.

"We need to do everything to prevent such a cycle of violence between
the communities in South Sudan," Ms. Johnson said, stressing that
those responsible need to be held to account.

"I condemn in the strongest possible terms the atrocities committed
against innocent civilians of different communities by elements from
both sides," she added.

The UN Mission yesterday voiced grave concern over mounting evidence
of gross human rights abuses in the strife-torn country, including
extra-judicial killings of civilians and captured soldiers, massive
displacements and arbitrary detentions, often with ethnic undertones.

UNMISS cited the discovery of large numbers of bodies in Juba, the
capital, and the Upper Nile and Jonglei state capitals of Malakal and
Bor.
The UN has been collecting information every day since the crisis
began and pledged to continue to investigate all reports of serious
human rights violations, and to collect evidence and eyewitness
testimony in order to document such allegations.
It reminded all parties of their obligation to protect civilians and
act in accordance with human rights and humanitarian law, and called
on key leaders to send strong public messages to their respective
constituencies insisting that the violence must stop, and that anyone
disobeying these orders will be punished severely.
Ms. Johnson welcomed the African Union's Peace and Security Council's
decision to establish a commission to investigate human rights
violations and other abuses and recommend ways and means to ensure
accountability, reconciliation and healing among all communities.
Meanwhile, UN agencies and humanitarian partners, supported by UN blue
helmets working to protect camps, are working to provide families with
water, shelter, food and other emergency relief.
Aid agencies will need $166 million to respond to immediate needs
until March, Ms. Johnson reminded the international community calling
on donors to come forward and assist.

Jan 1 2014 12:00PM
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