December 12, 2024 05:01 (IST)

Make this your homepage

Foreign

Donald Trump vows to eliminate birthright citizenship after taking charge | No alliance with Congress in Delhi polls: AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal | Bengaluru techie's suicide: Atul Subhash's wife and her family booked | Bengaluru techie's suicide: Atul Subhash's wife and her family booked | INDIA bloc to knock on Supreme Court's doors over alleged EVM manipulation during Maharashtra polls | 'Babri Masjid should be rebuilt in Bengal's Murshidabad': TMC MLA Humayun Kabir sparks row | Rajnath Singh calls on Russian Prez Vladimir Putin in Moscow, discusses bilateral defence cooperation | Police to investigate conspiracy angle in Mumbai bus accident that killed 7 | Mamata Banerjee should lead INDIA bloc: Lalu Prasad Yadav | Opposition moves no-confidence motion against VP Jagdeep Dhankar in RS

South Sudan: UN chief looks forward to President Kiir's endorsement of peace agreement

India Blooms News Service | | Aug 19, 2015, at 05:27 pm

#South Sudan # UN chief looks forward to President Kiir # endorsement of peace agreement

New York, Aug 19 (IBNS) United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday welcomed the signing by former South Sudan Vice President Riek Machar and the Former Detainees of the compromise peace agreement put forth by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development Partners Forum (IGAD) mediation, meant to end the conflict raging in the country for the past 20 months.

“He takes note that President Salva Kiir initialled a copy of the agreement with some reservations [and] expresses his strong hope that President Kiir will sign the agreement by the end of the 15-day deadline,” said a statement released in New York by Ban’s spokesperson.

According to media reports, Kiir, who initialled but has not yet signed the agreement, has asked for an additional two weeks to consult with his constituencies. Thanking the IGAD mediation for its “tireless” efforts to assist the parties reach agreement, the Secretary-General is encouraged by the regional and international consensus in support of the agreement, which the United Nations also signed as a witness, the statement added.

He reaffirmed the continued readiness of the UN to work with IGAD, the African Union and other international partners to finalize the agreement and move swiftly towards its implementation.

“Deeply pained” by the “horrendous” suffering of South Sudanese civilians, the Secretary-General called on all belligerents to immediately cease all hostilities, uphold international human rights and humanitarian law, and extend their full cooperation to UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and to the Humanitarian Country Team’s “life-saving activities” there.

The security situation in South Sudan has deteriorated steadily over the past year since political in-fighting between President Kiir and Machar, and their respective factions erupted in December 2013. The hostilities subsequently turned into a full-fledged conflict, resulting in reported atrocities and possible war crimes.

According to the latest estimates released by the UN refugee agency, more than 730,000 people have fled into neighbouring countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan, which has seen the highest arrival rate this year. Meanwhile, another 1.5 million remain internally displaced, often relocated to increasingly overcrowded 'protection-of-civilians' sites run by UNMISS.

Photo: IGAD

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.