UN says not giving up support for South Sudan

By Benjamin Takpiny

The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix on Friday said that the United Nations will continue to support South Sudan in tackling humanitarian crises.

“One of the key purposes of our visit was to emphasize and convey a very important message, which is the continuous strong commitment of the whole UN to supporting South Sudan. And we and I thought that it was important to convey that message at a time where on the one hand, there are many challenges that South Sudan is confronting, but then, on the other hand, there are many crises around the world,” Lacroix said during press conference in Juba.

He noted that the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict and the war in Ukraine are putting pressure on resources available to the UN system.

 Lacroix and Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Horn of Africa visited South Sudan and Abyei to understand first-hand the challenges, discuss the security situation, peace processes and electoral preparations with key stakeholders, and meet with State authorities, civil society and community members.

The UN Peacekeeping chief said that they will talk to their interlocutors on the need to funnel support to South Sudan.

“We, of course, talked about the current security and humanitarian challenges in South Sudan, the inter-communal violence and the resulting impact on the humanitarian situation, the fallout from the events, the situation in Sudan with the resulting influx of returnees and refugees to South Sudan, and again, with humanitarian consequences and potentially with additional security impact as well,” Lacroix said.

He said that they discussed the process toward the general election  as part of the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement, and how the UN could continue to work with South Sudan in terms of accompanying South Sudan towards the holding of election in the best possible conditions.

“Our role is our supporting one. It is to try our best so that we support whatever needs to be done at this stage to, I would say, maybe prepare the ground, whatever can be done at this stage  to prepare the ground for the continuation of the electoral process. And I think we can support in different ways, which is what UNMISS is doing, the various activities that we can support,” Lacroix said.

 The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Horn of Africa Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, said that it’s possible for South Sudan to hold general election, adding that those elections would be an important milestone in moving out of a post-conflict phase into consolidating the institutions of state and building a stronger and more inclusive democracy.

“Let me emphasize that elections are not an exit strategy for ending a peace process. They are an important milestone, and they mark the opportunity to move forward. Where would peace-building end, and peace-building activities end,” Tetteh said.

She said that holding election provides opportunity for people to focus their attention on the important task of nation-building.

Tetteh said that the United Nations foresees itself in future playing limited role in South Sudan when the country stabilizes.

“I would also like to emphasize that it’s important in all of these processes to make sure that there is the inclusion of women, minorities, and by minorities I also refer to people who are disabled”.

 “We should not treat them as if they are not part of society. They are an important part of society and they can also play a strong role in the development of institutions, peace-building and development as anybody else. And I hope that over the next year, as a country, you grapple with the challenges of this transition, that it will be a more inclusive process. And as my colleague has mentioned, the UN very much would be in support of that effort,” Tetteh said.