South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir on Monday tried to distance himself from a campaign of incitement against international peacekeepers and the international powers backing a proposal to reinforce the UN force by dispatching additional troops from regional powers.
East African countries have pushed to send more troops into South Sudan under the banner of peacekeeping mission UNMISS, but the South Sudanese government has resisted the plan before nominally accepting.
Kiir told lawmakers in his speech Monday that the opposition to the regional protection force was coming from “individual voices” within the regime and does not represent the position of the government overall.
“Already there are people who are accusing the transitional government of national unity of refusing and fighting the UN. I want to confirm on this great day that this is not accurate appraisal,” said Kiir, according to the prepared text of his speech, which was delivered at the inauguration of the transitional assembly mandated by last year’s peace deal.
“If there are voices out there expressing their views on the subject, these are individuals who do not represent the transitional government of national unity and have certainly not been mandated to speak on behalf of the transitional government of national unity,” he added.
He added, however, that the government has serious objections to the decisions by the regional leaders and United Nations Security Council with regards to the renewal of the mandate of UNMISS. He said his government would hold separate talks over this issue.
The president’s remarks come after press reports that his troops targeted and beat American aid workers and contractors during a rampage last month in Juba during which several foreign workers were also raped.
Kiir himself said last month that his government would not accept even a single more foreign soldier on South Sudanese soil. In early July his troops killed several Chinese peacekeepers serving with UNMISS and later that month his government orchestrated protests in Juba and other towns against the proposed augmentation of the UNMISS force and against UNMISS.
The president’s spokesman last week reacted angrily to the decision of the United Nations Security Council, claiming that the government would not cooperate with the UN on the deployment of additional peacekeepers. Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth said on Sunday that the cabinet and the legislature will have to study first the decision of the UN before coming out with a clear decision and position.
He did not say whether they would accept or reject.
Opposition groups accuse Kiir and his officials of perpetrating ethnic cleansing in Juba against Nuer citizens and this is the reason for their opposition to additional peacekeepers in the city. An African Union inquiry panel found that mass killings were carried out in the city.
Photo: Supporters of President Salva Kiir protest a proposed regional intervention force in Juba last month
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