The United Nations Security Council will update the mandate of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) to give it new responsibilities to help implement a peace deal signed by both South Sudanese warring parties this month, according to Secuirty Council President Joy Ogwu of Nigeria.
On behalf of the Security Council, Ogwu on Friday issued a presidential statement welcoming the signing of the peace deal by war leaders Salva Kiir and Riek Machar.
She stated, “The Security Council… confirms its intention to move swiftly to update the mandate of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) to support implementation of key tasks in the Agreement.”
UNMISS’ current mandate includes protection of civilians, facilitation of humanitarian access, and monitoring human rights abuses.
Ogwu did not disclose specifically what changes the Security Council would make to the peacekeeping mission. But the new peace deal signed this month asks the peacekeeping mission to take on a few new roles, including participation in the new ceasefire monitoring mechanism.
Under the terms of the new peace deal, the current IGAD ‘Monitoring and Verification Mechanism’ will be transformed into a broader-based group of ceasefire monitors including civil society representatives, the Troika, EU, other political parties, and IGAD.
UNMISS will also be represented on this monitoring committee, which will be called the “Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring Mechanism (CTSAMM).
The IGAD agreement also hints at a role for UNMISS in protecting various dignitaries and politicians in Juba, but does not lay out specifics, which are subject to further negotiation.
Notably, IGAD’s original peace proposal called for the demilitarization of Juba with the exception of a few hundred presidential guards and ex-opposition forces guarding the new first vice president. The IGAD mediators envisioned a role for UNMISS in helping coordinate convoy movements of these forces or sending out alerts so as to prevent accidental clashes between these formerly opposed forces who would both be based in Juba.
In the signed peace proposal, however, the provision allowing for Machar to have bodyguards in Juba was removed, and the limitation on the size of Kiir’s presidential guards was also removed. This means that the former rebel leader Riek Machar cannot return to Juba without some kind of international armed protection, unless he accepts to have government bodyguards as his new protection detail.
The IGAD agreement refers vaguely to the possibility of international bodyguards for Machar in article II.5.4 saying, “Security for personal protection may be sourced from external forces if the Parties require it, but shall operate alongside, and cooperate with, the security forces of South Sudan.”
File photo: UN Security Council