Last month, the UN Security Council visited South Sudan
President Salva Kiir, of South Sudan, addresses the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly, at U.N. headquarters, on Saturday. (Photo: AP)
United Nations: The president of South Sudan said on Saturday his government is "unwaveringly committed" to ending the conflict with his former vice president that has killed thousands.
In his address to the UN General Assembly's annual ministerial meeting, Salva Kiir urged the international community to pressure rebels led by political rival Riek Machar to sign "a crucially important document" that forms the basis for resolving the crisis peacefully and inclusively. He said he has already signed the protocol agreement along with leaders belonging to the IGAD regional group.
Fighting broke out in the world's newest nation in December after Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, accused Machar, an ethnic Nuer, of trying to oust him in a coup. That sparked months of ethnic attacks. Despite cease-fires in January and May, government troops continue to fight the rebels.
The toll has been huge, with thousands killed and more than 1.3 million people forced to flee their homes, including nearly 1,00,000 who sought refuge in UN peacekeeping camps.
Kiir accused the rebels of violating the peace agreements "too many times." He said his government has "unreservedly honored" the peace agreements and will continue to negotiate a peaceful solution in good faith.
US Ambassador Samantha Power tweeted that she met Kiir to raise US concerns over the lack of political compromise and a law being considered that she said would make it harder for non-governmental organizations to work, "further hindering humanitarian aid and hurting democracy."
Last month, the UN Security Council visited South Sudan and told Kiir and Machar "to end their devastating man-made conflict," she said. "Unfortunately, no evidence our message was heeded."
Power said the solution is clear: South Sudan's leaders must compromise, aid workers and peacekeepers must be allowed to move around and "atrocity perpetrators must be punished."
The United Nations has a peacekeeping force in South Sudan with nearly 10,500 military personnel and about 930 police.
UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told reporters Saturday that "now is not the time to think about building the state" of South Sudan, the UN's original mission, when there have been "massive violations" of human rights by all sides, including the government.
Ladsous said the UN will revert to state-building once a political solution has emerged and the most egregious violations have been dealt with in a "real process of accountability."
He also repeated the UN concerns about the "looming crisis of famine" in the coming weeks and months, as the violence has badly disrupted farming.
Kiir also said the government has ordered an investigation into human rights abuses and has agreed to cooperate with the commission of inquiry established by the African Union to investigate allegations of rights abuses.
( Source : AP )
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