Behind Uganda’s refusal to send troops to South Sudan

UN bars regional armies

On Aug.12, a US-drafted resolution was passed to create a new contingent of 4,000 African troops which would report to the UN mission commander with a more aggressive mandate to provide security and deter attacks on UN bases.

The resolution expressed “grave alarm and concern” at the political, security, economic, and humanitarian crisis in South Sudan.

The Security Council adopted also extended UNMISS until Dec. 15. The force, which would operate within the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) would be responsible for providing a secure environment in and around Juba.

At the UN, there were 11 votes in favor of the measure, which was written by the United States. Russia, China, Venezuela, and Egypt all abstained, and said the measure violated South Sudan’s sovereignty.

Immediately, South Sudan rejected the measure, because the force was put under UN command and was different from the IGAD communique.

“We are not going to cooperate on that because we will not allow our country to be taken over by UN,”Ateny Wek Ateny reportedly told Reuters agency. “Any force that will be called Juba Protection Force will not be accepted.

The U.S. immediately objected

“We recognise the importance of government cooperation, but the United States would point to the actions of the government. For while we expect the South Sudanese government to treat the United Nations like the partner that it is, that is simply not is happening on the ground in South Sudan today. Instead, as we all know, the Government of South Sudan’s troops are actively blocking United Nations personnel from carrying out their life saving work, which in some cases has led to the deaths of U.N. peacekeepers,” said U.S. deputy ambassador David Pressman.

Later South Sudan appeared to soften its stance with an offer to accept the force negotiations are allowed on its size, mandate, weapons and contributing countries.

“The door is open,”Ateny said.

Following this, a UN spokesman told journalists that neighboring Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya, which were agreed on by the UN, cannot take part in the Juba Protection Force.

African leaders under their umbrella organisation, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Plus, had earlier in July agreed to deploy a force possibly comprising soldiers from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, and Uganda.

These were expected to join a 12,000-strong UN peacekeeping force (UNMISS) that is already in South Sudan. Under this plan, theAU force would have a stronger mandate than the UN force.

The Council’s move to strengthen UNMISS came just days before South Sudan marks the one year anniversary of an August 2015 peace accord meant to end the fighting that had erupted two years earlier.

It is also possibly intended to ensure greater protection for UN compounds and UNMISS-managed civilian protection sites that were attacked during the recent flare up of fighting. A preliminary UN investigation into the violence and its aftermath revealed that Government security forces carried out killings and rapes, and looted and destroyed properties.

The UN says “protection of civilians must be given priority in decisions about the use of available capacity and resources within the mission”. Since December 2013, over two million people have fled their homes. Some 1.6 million are displaced within South Sudan and more than 900,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries. The UN raised the mission’s troop ceiling form 12,000 to 17,000.

Its mandate is to “to use all necessary means to protect United Nations personnel, installations and equipment to deter violence, especially through proactive deployment and active patrolling, to protect civilians from threats, regardless of source.”

The new force will also instead be under the UNMISS Force Commander and be based in Juba.

The adoption of the resolution takes note of the decisions adopted by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Plus Heads of State and Government in their 16 July 2016 Communique for deployment of a ‘regional protection force, and the 5August 2016 Communique of the Second IGAD Plus Extra-Ordinary Summit on the Situation in South Sudan which notes the Transitional Government of National Unity’s consent to deployment of such a force in principle.

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editor@independent.co.ug