UN demands South Sudan co-operate on regional force

The UN Security Council on Wednesday urged South Sudan’s government to take immediate steps to allow a new regional force to deploy in Juba as it weighed imposing an arms embargo.
Following a closed-door meeting, New Zealand Ambassador Gerard van Bohemen, who holds the council presidency, said it was time for “actions, not words” from President Salva Kiir’s government.
The council voted last month to deploy the 4 000-strong regional protection force (RPF) in Juba, which will be under the command of the UN peacekeeping mission.
The new force will help provide security in the capital and at the airport, and help protect UN facilities after Juba was rocked by heavy fighting in July.
Council members “call on the government to abide by the commitments it made and to translate them into concrete steps immediately,” Van Bohemen said following the meeting.
“They called on the government to finalise with the United Nations the modalities for the deployment,” he told reporters.
After initially opposing the force, Kiir this month agreed to the deployment during talks with council ambassadors who traveled to Juba for meetings with the leadership.
UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said the joint communique agreed between the United Nations and the Juba government on the deployment of the force “had not been acted upon at all”.
Ladsous said it was now up to the council to decide on the next steps.
In the resolution, the council threatened to impose an arms embargo on South Sudan if the government blocks the regional force or impedes the work of UN peacekeepers.