The African Union has endorsed an East African plan to reinforce the UN Mission in South Sudan with thousands more African peacekeepers. Salva Kiir plans to rally his supporters in Juba to denounce the plan.
Last week the East African bloc IGAD called on the UN Security Council to revise the UNMISS mandate to add a regional protection force to help prevent further fighting. The communique was also backed by Rwanda, South Africa, Nigeria and Algeria.
AU Commissioner for Peace and Security Smail Chergui confirmed the AU support for the IGAD plus request. “There is the idea of promoting deployment of an African force within the UN. All the questions have been accepted by the summit itself. So you will find them in the decision which will be made public,” said Chergui.
Chergui told journalists the AU envisions sending an African force with a robust “peace enforcement” mandate to South Sudan, like the African intervention brigade in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. He did not say when these African troops would arrive in South Sudan.
Meanwhile, however, the South Sudanese government has announced that it is sponsoring a demonstration against the AU-endorsed increase of UNMISS troops to Juba.
The protest is scheduled to take place in Juba on Wednesday morning, July 20, beginning at SPLM House and moving to the John Garang Memorial.
The US embassy advised its citizens to avoid the areas in which the demonstration will take place explaining, “Even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and escalate into violence.”
Kiir said last week that he would not accept even a single more foreign soldier on South Sudanese soil. Bol Makueng Yol, spokesperson of Kiir’s faction of the SPLM , told Radio Tamazuj that the move would be considered a declaration of war. Kiir’s Dinka Council of Elders, a group of supporters from his tribe, made similar statements.
Separately, a protest against the proposal to reinforce UNMISS also took place in Bor on Tuesday. The protesters reportedly damaged a number of vehicles on their way from town towards UNMISS.
The protesters said they were presenting a paper to voice their views to UNMISS in Bor. But the demonstration was interrupted by heavy rain.
Heavy fighting in Juba last week was widely criticized by the UN Secretary-General who suggested an arms embargo be imposed on South Sudan as well as lobbied African nations to send more troops to reinforce UNMISS.
Hundreds of people were killed during the fighting while many houses and shops were looted including the UN main warehouse in Juba.