South Sudan is shopping around for troops from African countries to deploy in Juba, after rejecting those recommended by the United Nations Security Council.

The EastAfrican has learned that Juba is seeking troops from Egypt and Tanzania, whom the leaders believe will be neutral as compared with frontline states like Ethiopia and Kenya that were supposed to provide the regional protection force.

But the Salva Kiir administration is running out of time as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was supposed to report to the Security Council about its commitment on the deployment of additional 4,000 troops by September 15.

Sources from the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) told The EastAfrican that Mr Ban is awaiting a report from the former president of Botswana, Festus Mogae, who is in charge of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC), which is supposed to implement the August 2015 agreement.

South Sudanese deputy ambassador to Kenya Jimmy Deng, however, said that the chiefs-of staff-from the Igad states are working on the modalities of deployment, adding that the world cannot just impose foreign forces on South Sudan without proper consultations.

“The forces that are coming and the type of weapons they are going to carry must come from Igad. We must have an exit strategy and the UN is not going to decide for us because there are a lot of countries that are willing to deploy,” said Mr Deng.

South Sudan is facing an arms embargo and targeted sanctions, especially after the Sentry Report revealed that the top leadership of the youngest country in Africa have been looting it since the signing of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Nairobi.

The report says that colossal amounts of money are stashed away in Kenyan and Ugandan banks while the same personalities own luxurious properties in the three countries.

Related stories

• South Sudan leaders profit from deadly war - report
• South Sudan rubbishes report on war profiteering by leaders

The challenge now is that countries that would provide the troops are unwilling to risk the lives of their soldiers in a direct confrontation with South Sudanese troops.

The same Igad counties are supposed to be in the forefront of imposing an arms embargo.  

Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia were supposed to provide the regional protection force, which according to the UN Security Council Resolution was supposed to act as a buffer between the forces of President Kiir and those of ousted vice-president Dr Riek Machar, and to secure humanitarian supply lines and key installations.  

“The government consented to the deployment of the regional protection force, but we need to hear now how the talks are going, about the actual, concrete deployment of that force,” said the US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power.