Former Bostwana President Festus Mogae has told the UN Security Council that there is a heightened sense of alarm that the situation in South Sudan is slipping out of control.
He was speaking at a high level session that saw the Council adopt a Presidential Statement expressing deep concern at the failure of the parties to fully adhere to their commitments to implement a peace agreement and calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Mogae, as Chair of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission, also warned that parties to the Agreement were failing in their basic duty to protect the South Sudanese people.
It is a conflict that is generating profound suffering.
With famine declared in some regions, fighting continues in others, hundreds of thousands remain in UN protection sites, while human rights have all but disappeared.
Mogae warned that political exclusion was at the root of the crisis.
“There is a heightened sense of alarm over the fact that the situation is slipping out of control. It is time now for the international community to condemn in the strongest terms the violence, the killings, the human rights abuses and the destruction of homes. We must now stand together to do something about it.”
Mogae warned that since the split of the SPLM in opposition, two clear opposition factions have emerged one loyal to former First Vice President Riek Machar and excluded from all agreements, the other loyal to General Taban Deng Gai, who is cooperating with the government.
And it’s this lack of consensus that is making the dire humanitarian situation more acute, prospects for peace unattainable and political leaders less credible by the day.
“In the interim, we must urgently look again at all possible practical measures that we can take to alleviate the desperate suffering that millions of people are facing every day. Women especially have suffered the greatest injustices and born the greatest burden of conflict, and all Parties to the Agreement are failing in their basic duty to protect the South Sudanese people.”
The Secretary General Antonio Guterres believes the peace process is at a standstill.
“Despite the alarm sounded by the United Nations and the international community over this crisis, the Government has yet to express any meaningful concern or take any tangible steps to address the plight of its people. On the contrary, what we hear most often are denials a refusal by the leadership to even acknowledge the crisis or to fulfil its responsibilities to end it.”
UN officials have indicated that the much delayed deployment of a protection force to bolster the current peacekeeping apparatus would occur within the next few weeks.
The SG says the optimism that accompanied the birth of South Sudan has been shattered.
“While President Kiir’s statements regarding his intention to hold a National Dialogue are welcome, they are not convincing in the context of on-going hostilities, the absence of consultation with key stakeholders, the systematic curtailment of basic political freedoms and restrictions on humanitarian access and the growing fragmentation of both sides of the conflict.”
He told Council not to underestimate South Sudan’s trajectory where atrocity crimes are occurring with impunity and where an even further deterioration remains real.
Festus Mogae tells UNSC there is a heightened sense of alarm in #SouthSudan that the situation is slipping out of control #sabcnews
— Sherwin Bryce-Pease (@sherwiebp) March 23, 2017
Mogae on #SouthSudan: Time for intl community to condemn the violence, killings, human rights abuses & destruction of homes. #sabcnews
— Sherwin Bryce-Pease (@sherwiebp) March 23, 2017
Mogae: split in SPLM/IO resulted in 2 clear opp. factions, 1 loyal to Riek Machar w/ is still fighting, the other 2 Taban Deng Gai #sabcnews
— Sherwin Bryce-Pease (@sherwiebp) March 23, 2017
– By Sherwin Bryce-Peace
