South Sudan rejects 4,000 more UN peacekeepers

August 11, 2016 03:44

South Sudan on Wednesday rejected a UN proposal to send a 4,000-strong regional force to the restive capital of Juba, saying it undermined the young nation's sovereignty.

The US-drafted resolution presented to the Security Council seeks to establish a protection force of African troops authorised to "use all necessary means" to provide security and deter attacks against UN bases in South Sudan.

But South Sudanese government spokesman Michael Makuei said his country rejected the resolution in its current form as it would "(turn) South Sudan into a protectorate and this is a situation that we will not accept."

The draft, which would also extend the current UN mission's mandate until December, would "undermine the sovereignty of the Republic of South Sudan," Makuei told reporters in Juba.

The head of the East African bloc IGAD, which first proposed the force, had said on Friday it had obtained South Sudan's permission to deploy it.

But Makuei appeared to throw that agreement into doubt, lending credence to fears among diplomats that the government's apparent willingness to participate in the IGAD summit was partly to buy time.

"The protection force should have been an independent body, not under (UN mission) UNMISS, so that they can perform their functions and duties... which we had agreed upon," Makuei said.

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