UNMISS must be shown the exit door or we must prepare for the worst in South Sudan
By Mariak Chol Majok, Kampala, Uganda
July 31, 2016 (SSB) — United Nations Mission In South Sudan (UNMISS) was established on 9th, July, 2011 as per the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) mandate and as per UNSC Resolution No. 1996 (2011) to serve for an initial period of one year, with the possibility of renewal. The duties and responsibilities of this UN Peace-keeping body in the Republic of South Sudan were:
- To consolidate peace and security and establish conditions for development with an aim of strengthening the capacity of the Government of the Republic of South Sudan in order to govern effectively and democratically and establish good relations with its neighboring countries.
- Protection of civilians under threat of physical violence, irrespective of source such as violence, within its capacity and areas of development, with specific protection for women and children and women’s advisers.
- To deter violence against civilians, including foreign nationals, especially through proactive development, active patrolling with particular attention to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and the refugees.
- To maintain public safety and security within and of the UNMISS Protection of Civilians Sites (POC)
- To maintain and foster a secure environment for the eventual, safe and voluntary return of Internally Displaced Persons and refugees, including, where compatible and in strict compliance with United Nations’ Human Rights Due Diligence Protection Policy (HRDPP), through monitoring and ensuring the maintenance of International Human Rights by and specific operational co-ordination with police service in relevant and protection-focused tasks in order to strengthen protection of civilians.
- Creating the conditions for delivery of humanitarian assistance to all the conflict-affected areas in the Republic of South Sudan
Given the above outline which gives a brief caption for the sole duties and responsibilities to which the UNMISS was created and deployed in the Republic of South Sudan, is it adhering to its mandate as spelt per the UN charter? Alas, the mission has totally gone astray in discharging its mandate as it is not impartial in the current conflict in our country.
Perhaps one may think UNMISS is a political entity which is running a parallel government in South Sudan. This is manifested by the way it has been acting in the conflict since its onset in December 2013 as they prefer to favour the SPLM-IO over the government which represents the people and sovereignty of South Sudan in all aspects.
One of the violations of the above stated functions was when the rebels commandeered the UN’s vehicles to carry out the attacks on government forces, the SPLA in Jonglei State in 2014 but when they were asked, the lame response they gave was that rebels had taken these vehicles forcefully but that was the end, no action was taken against those rebel perpetrators.
UNMISS has also been accused in numerous occasions and one of these ordeal incidences was when some civilians were killed based on their ethnicities, in the presence of the UNMISS peace-keepers in Akobo, Bentiu and other parts of the country where the conflict was raging. Did these forces intervene and rescue those vulnerable South Sudanese or did any senior official from the UNMISS or the UN Headquarters release any statement to condemn those inhumane and heinous crimes then?
Therefore, such UNMISS activities and games leave South Sudanese populace with so many questions lingering in their minds, asking if the UNMISS is living up to its mandate.
South Sudan would beforehand, be a better nation now, with its government capable of maintaining its national integrity and economically prosperous if it was not because of UNMISS. This UN Body has done worse than good to the people and the government of South Sudan because the atrocities they are doing now in our country are not different from those of the militiamen; one f these atrocities was the recent report that was released last month that some UNMISS forces forcefully engage in sex with the young ones as nine years old in the Protection of Civilians Sites (POCs) in exchange for food.
Is that really fair in the image of God, for the people who do not have fear for God and humanity to be called peace-Keepers? Well to me, they only qualify to be called war and human rights abuse/crime-keepers because any crime they do always goes unpunished
We did not fight for this country that caused us destruction of property and loss of millions of lives and countless amputees who are now permanently disabled only to be oppressed, plundered on and rule and divide policy be imposed on us in our own motherland. The fight that took place in the UN-protection of Civilians Sites in Malakal, January this year, in which many lives were lost with scores injured was masterminded and orchestrated by the UNMISS.
With the above mistreatment and atrocities being committed by UNMISS on those vulnerable civilians instead of protecting them, it is high time we, the South Sudanese people come out clear and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH because the citizens have been silent for so long knowing that those perpetrators within the UNMISS will one day be held accountable and pay dearly for their crimes and for not discharging as per the UN charter but nothing is being done to stop them from committing such crimes in our country.
The UN forces have never done something good in countries they are deployed to but more suffering of the citizens is always the outcome from their activities in those nations. Take examples of Iraq and Central African Republic. The citizens there are now suffering more than when the UN forces were there.
I appreciate the initiative taken by the Rally South Sudan Group (RSSG), a newly founded body that is against the extension of the UNMISS’s mandate and therefore, this youth body needs our collective effort, as South Sudanese people to ensure that it achieves the reason as to why it was formed-stage peaceful demonstrations till the UNMISS leaves our soil so as we find our lasting solution to current political bewilderment.
The demonstrations against the UNMISS should be extended to 28 states to show to the world that we are sick and tired of them. God Almighty that granted and blessed us with this beautiful nation, endowed with all natural resources, the spirit of our forefathers and the lives of our martyrs, heroes and heroines, whose blood cemented our national foundation will not let us down however much the devil tries to bring us down.
South Sudan shall and will always emerge as triumphant in all these demonic plans against our beloved nation. This country was bought with ultimate price by 2.5 millions South Sudanese who perished during the period of our struggle for our independence that we hardly won and therefore, anyone that plans to bring us back the suffering will never succeed.
In this case, our government should keep its strong stance against the deployment of the so-called third force that was proposed without the consent of the government of the Republic of South Sudan as said by the President that, “We will not allow not even a single troop to step foot in South Sudan because we already have more than 12,000 UNMISS forces”.
Therefore, any troops that will be brought shall be considered as invaders. The Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) should also be impartial and neutral in dealing with the Agreement on the Conflict Resolution in the South Sudan (ACRISS) because what its Chairperson, President Festus Mogae said last week when asked by the BBC Journalist concerning was really unfortunate and uncalled for.
The expectations of South Sudanese who want this peace agreement implemented both in letter and spirit is that, President Mogae would act like ACRISS-God father but to my surprised, he said yes, “The agreement says that the SPLM-IO will nominate a person for the post of First Vice President if the post falls vacant for 48 hours (2 days), but I really don’t know which group within the IO is responsible for that”. That was his response when asked by the BBC Journalist.
The only thing the JMEC, regional and international ACRISS guarantors should do to make sure that its implementation continues smoothly is to support and recognize the decision taken by the SPLM-IO top leadership by nominating Gen. Taban Deng Gai as the First Vice president because the decision was taken as it is squarely spelt out in the peace agreement. Let us call spade a spade, and shovel a shovel; this hypocrisy needs to stop once and for all so as the speedy progress of the peace implementation ensues immediately.
The unilateral decision taken by the United Nations Security Council last week to extend the UNMISS mandate for another more three weeks wasn’t proper as it didn’t involve the consent of the people of South Sudan; we are a sovereign nation, with its government that represents all the interests and needs of our people and therefore, the government should have been contacted first.
Mr. Banki-Moon should stop this high-handedness and should give us (South Sudanese) some respect when dealing with our country’s affairs. He is a South Korean by nationality and holds the highest position in the heart of the United Nations but what has he done to rescue South Korea that’s always bombed and used as a nuclear weapon testing ground by North Korea or does it mean he has a particular case with South Sudan?
Conclusively, finding lasting solution to the current political impasse in our country lies only in the hands of South Sudanese people and that can only happen IF and only IF we can swallow our egos, have nationalistic hearts, embrace one another as one people and nation and stop being used by the external influences to destroy our own country. We ought to think twice before taking any step-the war has been going on now for two years but all we see happening is more suffering of our people, immense loss of lives and destruction of property.
Only peace and unity will let us replenish what we fought for-the independence for our country and this is the time we should have been enjoying the fruit of our freedom rather than engaging in the proxy wars of divide and rule policy but that will not work, South Sudan shall and will always be a country we call our own and its people will not capitulate to these malicious plans meant to destroy and disintegrate our social and cultural diversities
UNMISS MUSS LEAVE!!!!!!!!
The Writer is a Student of St. Lawrence University and can be reached via mariakchol20@gmail.com
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