South Sudan’s deputy foreign minister says the decision by the UN Security Council to renew the mandate of peacekeepers in the country is ‘unfortunate’ because it was done without consultation with the government.

The government’s relationship with UNMISS deteriorated since December 2013 when the peacekeeping mission started setting up ‘protection of civilians sites’ and later also published two human rights reports.

Officials consequently declared their intention to review the Status of Forces Agreement, which governs the UN presence in the country.

Speaking at a press event today, Deputy Foreign Minister Bashir Gbandi said, “Unfortunately as we speak today, the Security Council of the UN has already renewed the mandate of UNMISS – that is the SOFA agreement – it has been done without our consultation.”

“And the normal time for it (to be reviewed) is normally July, but they decided to bring it ahead without our involvement. We will still query this as a government because we feel that we should be consulted,” added Gbandi.

“We will raise this up with the leadership and we will see how best we can address it,” he said.

He noted that Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin has been assigned by a resolution of the Council of Ministers to chair a ministerial committee to review the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), “with the viewpoint of looking into it and making our own observations.”

“It’s a concern for the government. We will have to raise it through the right channels,” concluded Gbandi.

UN Security Council members voted unanimously Tuesday to renew the mandate under chapter seven of the UN charter, authorizing UNMISS to “protect civilians under threat of physical violence, irrespective of the source of such violence.”

Photo: Bashir Gbandi at a press event in Juba, 29 May 2014 (Radio Tamazuj)