United Nations bans 12 European peacekeepers from South Sudan mission

Thousands of civilians poured to the streets of South Sudan’s capital Juba, protesting the intervention of foreign forces awake of the recent violence that erupted in Juba.

Britain is a permanent veto-wielding power – alongside the United States, France, China and Russian Federation – on the Security Council, which is charged with maintaining global peace and security and mandates peacekeeping missions.

Matt Moody, spokesperson for the U.K.’s mission to the United Nations, said in a statement Thursday that the U.K. temporarily withdrew two police officers from the mission because of the serious violence that was taking place in Juba at the time.

There are about 1,200 police serving in the United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, known as UNMISS, which numbers about 13,500 in all.

United Nations spokesman Farhan Haq confirmed on Wednesday that some United Nations police did not stay at their posts during the recent violence in South Sudan and that they would not be replaced with officers from the same country.

South Sudan’s vice president and former rebel leader Riek Machar has no plans for an imminent return to Juba, his supporters said Friday, accusing his rival President Salva Kiir of trying to oust or even kill him.

About a dozen police from Britain, Germany and Sweden were pulled out as fighting flared in Juba earlier this month, leaving at least 300 people dead.

“Their well-being was our chief concern”, he said.

Kiir said he expect a response within “48 hours”.

The note to Ban was largely similar to a draft memo, seen by Reuters on Wednesday, but it did not have language questioning Britain’s Security Council veto power when “they themselves are quick to abandon their post in challenging situations”.

The operation includes 1,200 police officers out of a 13,500-strong peacekeeping force. Hundreds of people from civil society and political parties protested in Juba.

South Sudan’s president and vice president ordered their loyalists to cease hostilities on July 11 after days of fighting threatened to plunge the country back into civil war and bring further instability to an impoverished region of Africa.

At the UN protection of civilians sites where thousands continue to shelter following the fighting that erupted in Juba almost two weeks ago, the UN Mission (UNMISS) and aprtners are continuing to supply daily water supplies.