A strategic review of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan’s peacekeeping role in the war-affected country will begin later this month to consult with a wide range of people, including the government, the international and humanitarian communities as well as UNMISS.
The current mandate, which came into force in December 2016, authorizes UNMISS to use “all necessary means” to protect civilians. It also requires the Mission to monitor and investigate human rights, create conditions conducive to the delivery of humanitarian assistance, and to support the implementation of the peace agreement. The current UNMISS mandate expires on 15 December 2017.
Speaking on Thursday during a news conference in Juba, David Shearer, head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said a review team from the UN Headquarters will come to South Sudan to consider the security and humanitarian situation, consult with a wide range of people in the capital as well as in more remote parts of the country, adding it will also speak with other South Sudanese groups based in Addis Ababa, including the opposition.
“What we would like to do through the strategic review is to canvass and understand some of the issues and opinions of people here in South Sudan so that we can feed that into the decision that will ultimately be made by the Security Council,” said Shearer.
He further said it is the 15-member Security Council that will decide whether to extend the mandate, not UNMISS. The UN official pointed out that the review team’s findings as well as other broader consultation processes will inform the Council’s decision-making.
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