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UN chief welcomes Security Council resolution on S. Sudan

28 May 2014 03:48 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday night welcomed an earlier Security Council resolution on revising the mandate of the peacekeeping mission in South Sudan so as to better address the security, humanitarian and political crisis that has gripped the country for the past six months, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"The secretary-general welcomes the adoption by the Security Council today of Resolution 2155 (2014) on South Sudan, which reprioritizes the mandate of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) towards the protection of civilians, human rights monitoring and support for the delivery of humanitarian assistance," said a statement issued here by Ban's spokesperson.

In the resolution unanimously adopted on Tuesday afternoon, the 15-nation Council decided to extend UNMISS until Nov. 30, 2014, and authorized it to use "all necessary means" to fulfill its mandate in the war-torn country, including supporting implementation of ceasefire agreements signed by the warring parties to the ongoing conflict.

The resolution emphasized that "protection of civilians ... must be given priority in decisions about the use of available capacity and resources within the Mission."

In doing so, the Council requested UNMISS to "focus and streamline its activities, across its military, police and civilian components in order to achieve progress" on its tasks, and recognized that "certain Mission tasks will therefore be ceased."

The latest resolution also maintained the increases in troop and police ceilings that the Council has temporary authorized in a resolution on Dec. 24 of 2013, which raised the troop ceiling from 7,500 to 12,500 and the police ceiling from 900 to 1,323 personnel.

In his statement, Ban underlined the importance of UNMISS' new mandate to peace and security in South Sudan and demanded that "every effort be made by potential contributors to deploy all troops, police and enablers to the Mission, as soon as possible."

The UN chief also reminded the parties of their primary responsibility to protect civilians from violence and end impunity.

The violence swept South Sudan since mid-December 2013 after fighting broke out in the capital Juba between soldiers loyal to South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and forces who sided with Riek Machar, the former vice president.

Fighting has continued in various parts of the country despite the signing of a cessation of hostilities agreement by the main parties to the conflict in January.

Another ceasefire agreement was inked by the two sides earlier this month, but continuing violations of the agreement were reported.

Three weeks after the new truce deal was reached on May 9, continuing fighting has forced nearly 70,000 people to flee their homes and seek shelter elsewhere in the country, according to UN.