United Nations diplomats arrive in South Sudan, threaten arms embargo

Hundreds were killed and thousands were displaced, while Machar, a former first vice president, fled after the outbreak of violence.

Soon after the delegations arrival in the capital, Juba, US Ambassador Samantha Power said the Council members are completely united in our desire to see peace in South Sudan and to see the people of this country live with the security and the dignity that they have craved for a very long time.

The visit, co-led by Senegal’s UN Ambassador Fode Seck, comes amid differences between the South Sudanese government and the worldwide community on the UN resolution passed last month to send 4,000 additional peacekeepers to protect the capital, Juba. The council is expected to meet with AU officials in Ethiopia after leaving South Sudan.

The Security Council was in Addis Ababa at the end of a four-day visit to the region to push for peace in South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation which has been wracked by war since 2013.

The Commission is planning to engage, in the next few days, all major stake holders in the peace process including the leadership of TGoNU at the highest level.

The 15-member council met with President Salva Kiir’s cabinet, religious and civil society leaders and visited two United Nations compounds in Juba where tens of thousands of civilians have been sheltering amid almost three years of violence.

The Council on August 12 voted in favor of deployment of extra 4,000 troops, known as protection force drawn from regional African countries, and extended the mandate of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.

The 4000-strong forces will join the existing 12,000 peacekeepers serving under the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

Lomoro said the “modalities” of deploying the new force were being discussed but he did not state that his government had dropped its opposition.

Samantha Power, the USA envoy to the Security Council, hailed the move but said it was now important to start translating words into action. Tens of thousands of people have died.

The UNSC and government also agreed that “security and humanitarian needs were paramount”.

The country gained independence from Sudan in 2011.

Fierce fighting in mid-July between troops loyal to Kiir and those backing former Vice President Riek Machar raised fears the five-year old state could slide back into full civil war, prompting the Security Council to approve a regional protection force to ensure peace in Juba.

Machar was reinstated as vice president in February as part of a deal to end the country’s civil war.

The conflict in South Sudan has exposed deep ethnic divisions.

An estimated 16,000 children have been recruited by armed groups and the national army in the conflict, and 2.5 million people have been driven from their homes.