Security Council to approve UN troop transfers to South Sudan
Tuesday December 24 2013
UN peacekeepers stand guard in Goma, DR Congo on July 13, 2012. The United Nations Security Council will likely approve on December 24, 2013a big increase in the UN troop deployment in strife-torn South Sudan. Photo/FILE
The United Nations Security Council will likely approve on Tuesday night a big increase in the UN troop deployment in strife-torn South Sudan.
All council members support a plan for 5500 more soldiers and police to join the 7400 UN peacekeepers on the ground in South Sudan, US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said on Monday.
Emphasising the urgency of the situation, Ambassador Power cited “very significant alarm on the part of council members” regarding the possibility of “imminent confrontations at UN bases where civilians are gathered.”
Some 45,000 South Sudanese have sought protection at UN installations. Two UN peacekeepers and an undetermined number of Dinka were killed last week when Lou Nuer youth overran the UN compound in Jonglei State.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is asking the Security Council to shift personnel to South Sudan from five current UN operations in Africa.
A total of five infantry battalions, three attack helicopters, three utility helicopters, one military transport plane and unspecified additional “enablers” would be transferred.
The troops and material would come from the UN deployments in Democratic Republic of Congo; the contested Abyei region on Sudan's border with South Sudan; the Darfur region of Sudan; Liberia; and Cote d'Ivoire.
Some Security Council members may raise concerns about whether this reassignment of personnel will weaken UN efforts in other volatile settings, particularly the DRC, Abyei and Darfur.
A total of 92 UN peacekeepers have lost their lives so far this year.
It will take at least a few days for the 5500 additional personnel to be moved into South Sudan, Ambassador Power said.
“Worse could come” in South Sudan in the meantime, she warned.