The visiting UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix met with two government officials in Juba shortly after his arrival in the country today.
In a statement after meeting South Sudan’s foreign minister Deng Alor, Lacriox said the foreign minister explained the evolution of the initiatives that are currently underway to advance peace in South Sudan.
He further said the minister emphasized the importance of the IGAD initiative regarding the revitalization of the implementation of the peace agreement and the efforts that are being conducted by neighbouring countries, such as Uganda, to bring stakeholders closer together.
“We agreed that all these actions and initiatives were important and had to converge into a positive dynamic that would bring about and accelerate the implementation of the peace agreement and bring sustainable peace in this country,” Lacroix said.
“I also underlined that these processes could not move forward with a chance of success if the fighting were to continue so I advocated that it was also extremely important for this peace process to have better chances of success but also for the humanitarian situation of the population to improve, it is very important that fighting should end,” he added.
The top UN official pointed out that they had discussions on the disputed territory of Abyei. “We also had discussions on Abyei. “We agreed that the next high-level meeting – particular the meeting that is, I understand, going to take place shortly between President Kiir and President Bashir of Sudan – will be very important,” he said.
The UN peacekeeping chief also met with South Sudan’s cabinet minister Martin Elia Lomuro.”We discussed about the security situation in South Sudan; we discussed about the peace process and how to advance efforts with a view to bring peace and stability in South Sudan; we referred to the revitalization efforts of IGAD; we referred to efforts that have been made by neighbouring countries such as Uganda; and we agreed that these were promising efforts and promising initiatives that we have to help move forward,” he said.
Lacroix pointed out that the United Nations is in South Sudan to help achieve peace and to help Sudan achieve peace and to help the population of South Sudan.
“We emphasized the fact that the UN humanitarian agencies are doing their best to help the population of South Sudan and we look forward to further cooperation with the Government so that we can access populations in distress wherever the needs are,” he said.
“We had an exchange on this with the minister, as he mentioned. I explained that we are looking forward to further support from the government to expedite the procedures that are needed to facilitate those deployments,” he added.