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Tag: Salva Kiir

  • 1st batch of 4,000 peacekeepers arrive war-torn South Sudan: UN scribe

    The first batch of 4,000 peacekeepers arrived war-torn South Sudan,  eight months after the Security Council authorised the deployment of extra troops.

    UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made this known in a monthly report on the status of the deployment and obstacles facing some 13,000 peacekeepers already on the ground.

    Guterres said “the situation in the country has deteriorated at a rapid pace,”

    The 15-member Security Council approved the additional troops, known as a Regional Protection Force (RPF), in August 2016.

    The approval followed several days of heavy fighting in the capital Juba between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and those backing former Vice President Riek Machar.

    The force is part of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), which has been in South Sudan since its independence from Sudan in 2011.

    The country spiraled into civil war, with violence along ethnic lines, after Kiir sacked Machar in 2013.

    “Deployment of some of the first wave elements of the RPF … has begun,” Guterres said in the report.

    While it usually takes several months for the UN to get the troop contributions needed for a deployment, the world body has also had to contend with the South Sudanese government’s red tape and unwillingness to cooperate.

    “It is indeed unfortunate that the first troops associated with the RPF have only begun to arrive eight months after they were initially mandated by the Security Council,” Guterres said in the report.

    He added that as of May 15 there were 31 members of the Bangladesh Construction Engineering Company on the ground.

    The Security Council had threatened to impose an arms embargo if Kiir’s government did not cooperate with the deployment or allow peacekeepers already on the ground to move freely to protect civilians.

    The U.S. put the measure to a vote in December it failed to get the nine votes needed to pass.

    Guterres said that UNMISS “continued to be obstructed and restricted in some cases encountering aggression from government forces.”

    He also said humanitarian aid deliveries were being hindered.

    The UN estimates about three million South Sudanese, a quarter of the population, have fled their homes, parts of the oil-producing country are in famine and top UN officials have warned of a possible genocide.

     

  • 115 soldiers killed in South Sudan clashes

    At least 115 soldiers from South Sudan’s rival factions were killed in gun battles in the capital Juba, a military spokesman for the opposition said on Saturday, amid fears for a fragile peace process in a country still reeling from a two-year war.

    Gunfire erupted on Friday evening near the state house where President Salva Kiir and vice president Riek Machar, former rivals, were meeting for talks, Reuters reported.

    Both men said they did not know what had triggered the latest fighting between their factions and called for calm.

    William Gatjiath Deng, spokesman for Machar’s military faction, said the fighting had occurred near the state house and in army barracks.

    “In the morning we collected and counted 35 (dead) from the SPLM-IO (Machar’s faction) and 80 people from the government forces,” he said.

    Deng said the death toll could rise on Machar’s side “because there are some soldiers seriously wounded.”

    The government side had no immediate comment on the situation in Juba.

    At least five soldiers were killed on Thursday in similar clashes between the two sides.

  • South Sudan’s Kiir appoints political foe as vice president

    South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has appointed his rival and former rebel leader, Riek Machar as his vice president, a decree broadcast on state television said on Thursday.

    The decree said Machar will be the first vice president, but gave no more details.

    Reuters reported that South Sudan has been mired in conflict since December 2013, when clashes broke out between troops loyal to Kiir and soldiers backing Machar, who previously held the vice president position.

  • South Sudan president signs peace deal

    South Sudan president signs peace deal

    South Sudan’s president signed a peace deal on Wednesday to end a 20-month conflict with rebels, but he told regional African leaders at the ceremony that he still had “serious reservations.”

    President Salva Kiir, who has led South Sudan since it seceded from Sudan in 2011, last week asked for more time for consultations, drawing threats of United Nations’  sanctions if he failed to ink it within a two-week deadline, Reuters reported.

    “With all those reservations that we have, we will sign this document,” he told African leaders gathered in Juba for the ceremony, speaking shortly before he signed.

    Rebel leader Riek Machar, Kiir’s long-time rival who is expected to become the country’s First Vice President under the deal, signed the document last week in the Ethiopian capital.

    UN chief Ban Ki-moon welcomed the signing of the peace deal, but his spokesman noted in a statement that it must be implemented.

    “Now is the time to ensure that this agreement translates into an end to the violence, hardship and horrific human rights violations witnessed throughout this conflict,” the statement said.

    Thousands of people have been killed since the conflict erupted in December 2013 after a power struggle between Machar, an ethnic Nuer, and Kiir, from the dominant Dinka group. The fighting has increasingly followed ethnic lines, unsettling an already volatile region.

    Many of the 11 million population had been driven to the brink of starvation and two million people have fled their homes, often to neighbouring states.

  • South Sudan soldiers raped children – UN

    South Sudanese soldiers raped children, burnt people alive in their homes and hunted others for days in swamps in an increasingly brutal war the government had hoped to win with an emergency $850 million military budget, United Nations experts said.

    A panel of experts who monitored the UN sanctions on South Sudan obtained a copy of the emergency budget for January to July 2014, but warned in a report made public on Tuesday that it did not mean South Sudan had acquired everything it wanted.

    South Sudan was plunged into a civil war in December 2013 when a political crisis sparked fighting between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebels allied with his former deputy, Riek Machar, the BBC reports.

    The conflict has reopened ethnic fault lines that pit Kiir’s Dinka people against Machar’s ethnic Nuer people.

    Kiir is expected to sign a peace deal on Wednesday to end the conflict. Machar signed the deal last week.

    The UN experts found that a government offensive in oil-producing Unity State between April and July this year had been “intent on rendering communal life unviable and prohibiting any return to normalcy following the violence.”

    “The intensity and brutality of violence aimed at civilians is hitherto unseen, in what has been so far — without a doubt — an incredibly violent conflict, where civilians have been targeted by all parties to the conflict,” the experts wrote in the interim report submitted to UN Security Council members.

     

  • South Sudan’s leader declines to sign peace deal

    South Sudan’s leader declines to sign peace deal

    South Sudan President Salva Kiir declined to sign a peace deal proposed by regional leaders on Monday, saying he required more time, the mediator of the crisis said.

    South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011, descended into chaos in December 2013 when a political row between Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar spiralled into armed conflict that reopened ethnic fault lines.

    Seyoum Mesfin, the mediator for IGAD, the East African bloc leading the talks, said Kiir’s side required two weeks before signing the peace deal that was accepted by the South Sudanese rebels.

    “In the next 15 days, the government will come back to Addis Ababa to finalise the peace agreement,” Seyoum said. No one from the government was immediately available to comment.

    The U.S State Department said it deeply regretted the government decision, urged it to sign within 15 days and renewed a threat to raise pressure on those opposing the peace proposal, Reuters says.

    Numerous rounds of negotiations have failed to end fighting that has killed over 10,000 people and displaced more than two million, with both sides engaging in a war of attrition despite signing ceasefire deals.

  • South Sudan rivals ‘vow to end fighting’

    Agency Reporter

    The government and rebels in South Sudan have agreed to end fighting and form a transitional government within 60 days.

    The regional Igad bloc, mediating the conflict, has threatened sanctions if they fail to abide by the agreement.

    It follows a rare meeting between President Salva Kiir and rebel chief Riek Machar in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

    Previous deals to end the violence have been broken by both sides, compounding the worsening humanitarian crisis.

    Thousands have now died in the conflict that started as a political dispute between Mr. Kiir and Mr. Machar, his sacked deputy, but escalated into ethnic violence, the BBC reports.

    More than a million people have fled their homes since fighting erupted last December.

    Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn announced the new agreement on Tuesday, after President Kiir and Mr. Machar met on the sidelines of an Igad summit on Tuesday,

    “If they don’t abide to this agreement, Igad as an organisation will act to implement peace in South Sudan. On that, we have different options including sanctions and [other] punitive actions as well,” he said.

    “There has been a growing tendency to continue with the war,” he added, criticizing both sides for breaking a previous ceasefire agreed on May 9.

  • South Sudan’s elections postponed

    South Sudan’s elections postponed

    South Sudan has postponed presidential elections due next year to give government and rebel forces more time to achieve reconciliation, President Salva Kiir has said.

    Mr Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar signed a ceasefire deal on Friday to end conflict that erupted in December,

    He said an interim government would run South Sudan until elections are held in 2017 or 2018.

    Thousands of people have been killed in the fighting.

    Mr Machar accused the government of breaking a ceasefire and attacking the rebels on multiple fronts.

    The UN has accused both sides of crimes against humanity, including mass killings and gang-rape.

    South Sudan is the world’s newest state, becoming independent in 2011 after seceding from Sudan.

    Fighting broke out in December after Mr Kiir accused Mr Machar, his sacked deputy, of plotting a coup.

    Mr Machar denied the allegation, but then marshalled a rebel army to call for the overthrow of the government.

    Mr Kiir and Mr Machar signed a peace deal in Ethiopia on Friday. It was their first meeting since the conflict erupted.

    At least 1.5 million people have been left homeless in the world’s newest state

    Many of them are living at UN camps.

     

  • South Sudan rebels ‘seize’ Bentiu

    South Sudan rebels ‘seize’ Bentiu

    Rebel forces in South Sudan have recaptured the oil hub of Bentiu from the government, their spokesman says.

    Oil companies should halt operations immediately and evacuate their staff within a week, Brig Gen Lul Ruai said.

    An army spokesman denied Bentiu had fallen, saying fighting was continuing.

    The two sides have repeatedly accused each other of violating a ceasefire signed in January.

    More than one million people have been displaced in the conflict, which broke out about a month earlier after South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir accused his sacked deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup.

    Mr Machar denied the allegation, but then launched a rebellion to overthrow Mr Kiir.

    His forces took control of Bentiu, capital of Unity state, soon after the conflict started. However, government forces drove the rebels out of the the city on 10 January.

    Unity state is rich in oil, the main foreign exchange earner of South Sudan. Oil production in South Sudan dropped by 20% after the conflict started.

    China and Russia are among the major investors in South Sudan’s oil industry. Brig Gen Lul Ruai warned firms not to defy the order to shut operations.

    Otherwise, they risked a “forced oil shutdown and the safety of their staff”, he said.

    A UN official in South Sudan, Joe Contreras, said Mongolian peacekeepers had on Monday rescued 10 staff members from the Russian oil company Safinat just north of Bentiu, Associated Press news agency reports.

    Two of the five wounded were in critical condition, he said.

     

    The UN has around 8,000 peacekeepers in South Sudan, including a base in Bentiu where thousands of people have taken refuge since fighting broke out in December.

     

    South Sudan’s military spokesman Col Philip Aguer said heavy fighting was continuing for control of Bentiu, AFP news agency reports.

     

    “The rebels have tried to penetrate one part of the town but are being held back,” he told AFP.

  • Sudan, South Sudan move to protect oil fields

    Sudan, South Sudan move to protect oil fields

    Sudan and South Sudan have begun talks to deploy a joint force to protect oilfields in the South threatened by rebels, Sudan’s foreign minister said.

    Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir flew to South Sudan to discuss the unrest there with his counterpart, Salva Kiir.

    The conflict pits supporters of Mr Kiir against rebels led by his sacked deputy, Riek Machar.

    At least 1,000 people have been killed since violence erupted on December 15.

    The violence started after Mr Kiir accused Mr Machar of attempting a coup – an allegation he denies.

    Nearly 200,000 people have been displaced in the conflict, which has taken on ethnic undertones. Mr Kiir is from the majority Dinka community and Mr Machar from the Nuer group.

    Yesterday, Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali Karti said Mr Bashir and Mr Kiir were “in consultations about the deployment of a mixed force to protect the oilfields in the South”.

    However neither of the presidents referred to the proposal during their joint news conference in the South Sudanese capital Juba.

    When it seceded from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan ended up with most of the oilfields

    But it has to export the oil using pipelines through ports in Sudanss territory. The government in Khartoum now fears its oil revenue will be disrupted by the fighting in the South.

    The BBC’s South Sudan analyst James Copnall says it will be an extraordinary development if Sudanese forces return to the South.

    At least two million people died during the north-south conflict.

    Separately, the two warring parties in South Sudan have begun direct talks in Ethiopia aiming at a ceasefire.

    Analysts say that by seizing Bentiu, the capital of the oil-producing Unity State, the rebels have in effect been able to hold the country to ransom and made their bargaining position much stronger.

    However, not much progress has been made at the Ethiopia talks so far, Mr Kiir said at the news conference with President Bashir.

    He said his government would not meet Mr Machar’s demand to release 11 of his political allies accused of plotting a coup.

    They would be held accountable for the violence in South Sudan, Mr Kiir added.

    The BBC’s Alastair Leithead was with government troops when they were ambushed

    President Bashir called on the two sides to end the conflict through dialogue, saying Sudan would not back the rebels.

    China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi is also due to hold talks with the opposing factions, in an attempt to push them to agree to a cessation of hostilities.

    China is a major investor in South Sudan’s oil industry.

    Also yesterday, the South Sudanese government announced it had agreed to a cessation of hostilities with a rebel it has been fighting for nearly two years, David Yau Yau.

    It had been feared that Mr Yau Yau, who has troops in Jonglei state, would join the new rebellion.

    Mr Yau Yau previously said he took up arms to win greater rights for his Murle ethnic group, rather than to overthrow the government.

    In another development, the United Nations said militiamen had taken control of a UN food warehouse in Bentiu and that UN vehicles had been commandeered in the rebel-held town of Bor.

    “This makes it very, very difficult for us to continue our work – the sole purpose of which is reaching civilians in need,” said Toby Lanzer, the UN’s humanitarian co-ordinator in South Sudan.

    Heavy fighting is continuing to the south of Bor, says the BBC’s Alastair Leithead, who was on the road between Juba and Bor.

    The rebels include a former military division made up of thousands of men who switched sides, our correspondent says.

    Until a ceasefire is agreed, fighting is expected to continue or even intensify, he adds.

    The latest trouble has its roots in tensions that go back long before 2011.