The United Nations Secretary General has warned South Sudan against delaying deployment of 4,000 peacekeepers into the country.

In a statement to the Security Council on January 16, Mr Antonio Guterres doubted President Salva Kiir’s willingness to cooperate on the deployment and asked the UN organ to pile pressure on Juba to accept the force.

The UN boss issued the statement a week after South Sudan’s Defence Minister, Kuol Manyany Juuk, said there is no need for the deployment arguing the security situation in Juba has improved.

South Sudan's Information Minister, Michael Makuei, also said the deadline for the deployment expired on December 15, 2016, and that South Sudan would not accept the force unless the UN Security Council passes a fresh resolution.

The UN Security Council passed a resolution last August, following fresh fighting in Juba that led to the killing of hundreds of people, including over 300 soldiers belonging to both President Salva Kiir and rebel leader, Dr Riek Machar.

However, Juba initially resisted the deployment of the troops—that were to come from Kenya, Ethiopia and Rwanda—saying their mandate was vague and that there are already 12,800 boots on the grounds under UN Mission in South Sudan (Unmiss).

But in November last year, South Sudan government accepted the deployment after serious international pressure and threats of targeted sanctions and arms embargo.

In the meantime, the UN has been shopping for troops outside the region following the withdrawal of Kenyan soldiers from Unmiss and a political crisis in Ethiopia over land rights.

Plans to deploy a UN regional force in South Sudan are bogged down in delays over visas, the allocation of land for bases and a dispute over protecting Juba airport, according to a confidential report obtained by AFP on Tuesday.

The Security Council decided six months ago to deploy the 4,000-strong protection force in Juba to bolster the UN peacekeeping mission that failed to protect civilians during heavy fighting in the capital in July.

Humanitarian crisis

Rwanda and Ethiopia are ready to send their troops to be part of the new force, with the first elements from a Kigali battalion able to arrive in late February or early March.

Mr Guterres said he was also pressing for a Rwandan tactical helicopter unit to be deployed in the first wave.

Kenya has told the United Nations it was open to discussing its participation in the new force even though it withdrew its peacekeepers from South Sudan to protest a UN decision to fire the Kenyan commander of the mission.

A delegation from the UN peacekeeping office is due to visit Nairobi to discuss Kenya's role, said the report.

After gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan descended into war in December 2013, leaving tens of thousands dead and more than 3.1 million people displaced.

There is growing alarm over the humanitarian crisis in the country as the conflict entered its fourth year.

More than six million people — half of South Sudan's population — are in need of urgent aid and humanitarian organisations expect this number to rise by 20 to 30 per cent next year.

In the first weeks of his tenure as secretary-general, Guterres has been engaged in telephone diplomacy with regional leaders to discuss the way forward in South Sudan.

A peace deal signed in August 2015 was in tatters after rebel leader Riek Machar fled Juba during the fighting in July. Now in exile in South Africa, Machar has called for a return to all-out war.

Additional reporting by AFP