UN diplomat urges South Sudan leaders to resolve persistent communal battle – Sudans Post
JUBA – The head of the U.N. Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan, Nicholas Haysom, on Thursday known as on political leaders to embrace dialogue to finish the nation’s persistent communal battle.
In his keynote handle throughout the RJMEC month-to-month assembly in Juba, Haysom, who additionally serves as Special Representative of the Secretary-General, expressed concern over the rise in documented subnational violence.
“Subnational violence remains a significant concern affecting civilians across South Sudan, as documented in our latest quarterly brief, which highlights a 43% increase in the number of violent incidents compared to the same period last year,” he mentioned.
Haysom instructed that dialogue efforts must be structured inside a selected framework. ”
“Given the recent extension of the transitional period, it is vital that national, state, and local authorities, as well as communities and their leaders, redouble their efforts to resolve longstanding conflict drivers through dialogue,” he mentioned.
He emphasised the necessity for the deployment of the mandatory unified forces (NUF) to supply safety on the state stage.
“And agreeing on the middle command structure of those forces, civic education, preparatory work towards voter registration, amending the National Security Services Bill, and developing a code of conduct between political parties,” he mentioned.
Haysom additionally urged the federal government to open up civic area to permit civil society, the media, and political events to train their democratic rights.
On October 16, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) reported that 442 individuals had been killed and 297 injured in subnational violence throughout the second quarter of this 12 months.
UNMISS’s newest report, launched on Wednesday in Juba, famous that 1,062 civilians, together with 160 girls and 188 kids, had been impacted; of those, 442 had been killed, 297 injured, 197 kidnapped, and 126 had been subjected to sexual violence.
“This represents a steep increase of 43 percent in the number of violent incidents (from 222 to 317), as well as a 22 percent rise in the number of victims (from 871 to 1,062) compared to the same period in 2023,” the report said.
UNMISS added that these figures additionally point out a 32 p.c enhance in violent incidents (from 240 to 317) and a 16 p.c rise within the variety of victims (from 913 to 1,062) in comparison with the earlier quarter (January – March 2024).
