More peacekeepers needed for South Sudan

New York -UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wants 1,100 additional peacekeepers be sent to South Sudan to help protect civilians continue to face attacks despite a peace agreement signed three months ago .
Ban made the request in a report last week the Security Council that paints a pessimistic picture of conflict in the world’s newest nation.
Ceasefire violations by government and rebel forces “call into question their commitment to the peace process and political buy-in for the implementation of the peace agreement,” said the report obtained by AFP Tuesday .
Ban recommended that an additional 500 military troops and 600 police officers will be deployed to South Sudan, as well as 13 helicopters and transport planes to move quickly peacekeepers across the country.
The UN chief also called a field hospital in Bentiu, where nearly 100,000 people have sought refuge in the UN base, and improved medical facility in Juba to provide essential emergency services.
Southern Sudan descended into the war in December 2013, when President Salva Kiir accused his sacked deputy Riek Machar of planning a coup.
The clashes are likely
The two leaders signed a peace agreement in August, but the fighting continued, with ethnic ongoing attacks, killings of civilians, recruitment of child soldiers and rape.
Tens of thousands of people have died in the conflict and 2.3 million have been driven from their homes while many regions are facing the threat of famine and epidemic malaria.
The clashes are likely to continue between the government, rebel and dissident groups with revenge killings and retribution should increase, said Mr. Ban.
“The atrocities committed during the twenty months of conflict and the general collapse of state authority … imply that revenge killings and an increase in sectarian violence also constitute major risks during the transition period” he said.
In all, nearly 180,000 people found refuge in six bases of the UN, but the mission UNMISS has recorded more than 2,900 violent incidents, including murder, sexual violence, crimes and attacks against the UN and humanitarian personnel.