UN Security Council extends the mandate of the Mission in South Sudan The UN Security Council on Tuesday (May 27) extended the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (NMISS) for another six months, until November 30, 2014,and revised its mandate to give priority to the task of protecting civilians and to address the security, humanitarian and political crisis in South Sudan. In a unanimously adopted resolution, the Security Council authorized the Mission to use “all necessary means” to protect civilians, monitor and investigate human rights, create the conditions for delivery of humanitarian assistance, and support the implementation of the cessation of hostilities agreement.” The Council said the authorized troop and police strengths of the Mission will remain at 12,500 and 1,323, respectively, but it also endorsed the recommendations made by UN Secretary-General, Ban ki-Moon in a recent report to increase the overall force levels of UNMISS. This will allow for a three battalion component drawn from IGAD with additional responsibility for protecting IGAD’s Monitoring and Verification Mechanism. The Security Council requested Mr. Ban to review needs on the ground, and provide an updated assessment of the force’s operations, deployment and future requirements with 120 days. In a statement, the Secretary-General welcomed the adoption of the resolution, and underlined the importance of the new mandate for UNMISS. He also called on potential contributors to make every effort to deploy all troops, police and enablers to the Mission, as soon as possible. The Secretary-General took the opportunity to remind all parties in South Sudan “of their primary responsibility to protect civilians from violence and end impunity.” He urged both parties without further delay to implement the Agreements signed on January 23, to which they recommitted themselves on May 9. He also called on them “to show the political will necessary to advance the political process and provide their full cooperation to UNMISS as it carries out its mandate.” UNMISS has been protecting up to 80,000 civilians at its bases since December and in the resolution the Security Council emphasized that the protection of civilians must be given priority in decisions about the use of capacity and resources. The Council condemned “in the strongest terms” attacks on and threats made to UNMISS personnel and UN facilities, including violations of t
Posted on: Thu, 29 May 2014 15:02:37 +0000
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