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South Sudan agrees to deployment of peacekeeping force

Saturday, 26 November 2016 10:08 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 26 November 2016 10:18 AM ]

Members of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) board a bus heading to the base at the compound of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) on their arrival in Juba, November 21, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

South Sudan’s government has finally agreed to the deployment of a new regional force mandated by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to the country to contain civil fighting.

“I would like... to inform the people on behalf of the transitional government of national unity that your cabinet has resolved unanimously to allow the deployment of the regional protection force anytime from now,” said Akol Paul Kordit, South Sudan’s deputy information minister, late on Friday.

Kordit’s announcement came after hours of deliberations during a cabinet meeting chaired by President Salva Kiir.

South Sudanese authorities, however, have not provided any details about when and where the force would be deployed.

South Sudan plunged into civil war soon after seceding from Sudan in 2011. Fighting surged in July, when deadly clashes erupted in the capital, Juba. More than 300 people have been killed in the clashes.

The UNSC authorized the deployment of 4,000 additional troops from East Africa with a stronger mandate than the UN peacekeeping mission (UNMISS) that had already been deployed to the country to ensure security amid the renewed fighting.

President Salva Kiir, however, initially rejected the deployment of the new regional force as a breach of South Sudan’s sovereignty but later agreed to the deployment on September 4.

Since then, the UN had been accusing Kiir’s government of procrastination and threatened to impose an arms embargo on South Sudan.

In his Friday remarks, Kordit further said that the force will “bring peace in this country, to end the suffering of the people of South Sudan.”

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