South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has ordered security organs to cooperate fully with the UN-mandated regional protection force in Juba.
Addressing top police officers from the National Ministry of Interior in Juba today, Kiir said his administration’s dispute with the United Nations after it deployed Rwandan forces as part of the regional force at Juba airport in August has been resolved.
“We said that if they [RPF] have gone to the airport, we will leave them to stay there but we stop cooperation with them, but there will be no force coming in and we are not going to give any clearance. At the end, they had to withdraw from there,” he said.
“Now, your role as a security force is not to fight these forces, you are not to fight the RPF or forces of the UNMISS. You work to cooperate with them. They are foreigners and you must show them the best part of this country,” he added.
The UN Security Council authorised the deployment of an additional 4,000 troops from the region with a stronger mandate than the 16,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission UNMISS after fighting resumed in July last year.
President Kiir initially refused the deployment of additional troops but later agreed to their deployment in the capital.