The United Nations peacekeeping chief ripped South Sudan’s government behind closed doors on Monday at the UN Security Council, painting a bleak picture of the country as fighting spreads.
A regional protection force mandated by the Security Council has been undermined by South Sudan’s government, Herve Ladsous said according to a transcript obtained by Radio Tamazuj.
“The objective of the government is to delay the deployment and reduce the potential impact of the RPF as much as possible,” Ladsous said, singling out Minister of Information Michael Makuei and Cabinet Minister Martin Lomuro for a series of contradictory positions in recent weeks.
“We will need to receive a formal communication to know where we stand,” he added.
Ladsous’s statements are an insight into the frustrations diplomats and UN officials have had with South Sudan’s government.
In August, diplomats at the Security Council mandated the 4,000 strong peacekeeping force to bolster security in the South Sudan. During its visit to South Sudan in September, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said that if the regional protection force or the UN were being blocked then her country would support an arms embargo — but has not publicly followed through.
The Russian government has said that it is not in favor of the arms embargo on South Sudan. Both are permanent members on the UN Security Council. Ladsous pleaded with members of the council to impose the arms embargo.
“I feel more than ever that there should be an arms embargo. The economy is bankrupt yet money is spent on arms. This unacceptable and must not be allowed to continue,” Ladsous said.
The security outlook the UN peacekeeping chief gave was equally as bleak.
“The situation in South Sudan is extremely worrying and the security situation on a constant pattern of deterioration. Reports of fighting across the country are now consistently coming in with clashes reported in the Equatorias, Greater Upper Nile and Bahar El Ghazal regions,” Ladsous said.
During the Security Council’s visit in September, President Kiir pledged to lift restrictions on the UN and on humanitarians, but the UNpeacekeeping chief said that “the situation has not changed for the better.”
Separately, South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir said Wednesday that he did not want his country to turn out like Congo, where he suggested that peacekeepers took control of the country in the 1960s. “Are they in control of their country?” he said of the Congolese.