South Sudan condemns killing of UN peacekeeper in Northern Bahr el Ghazal

JUBA – South Sudan government has condemned in a statement the killing of a peacekeeper belonging to the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state and promised to conduct investigation to establish reasons behind the killing of the UN peacekeeper.

In a press statement issued on Tuesday, South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation pledged its full support to the UNISFA to enable the body to achieve its mandate as stipulated in the 2011 agreement.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of South Sudan is closely following events in Gok Machar and deeply regrets the loss of life of a peacekeeper,” the ministry said in the statement cited by City Review.

“The government of the Republic of South Sudan avails itself of this opportunity to express its unequivocal support to the core mission of UNISFA and stands ready to do what it can to make it a success,” it added.

Reasons behind the killing of the peacekeeper are still unknown, but social media speculations have it that the peacekeeper lost his life during a protest by the Aweil North County Community against UNISFA operating in the area out of its jurisdiction.

In a statement this week, the Governor of Northern Bahr el Ghazal state Tong Akeen Ngor denied the killing, but then said the UNISFA had overstepped its mandate.

“UNISFA has the mandate to monitor and verify the activities of the two armies at Kiir Adem. Unfortunately, it did not do so. It decided to operate in Gok Machar, the Aweil North country headquarters, and there the GPS [Global Positioning System] started to read and show Gok Machar as part of Eastern Darfur,” Tong said on Monday.

“This angered the local communities who went out to demonstrate. They asked UNISFA to adjust the reading of its GPS so that the reading shows it is in the territory of South Sudan. They [UNISFA] did not want to do it. This agitated the community and it dragged on until it went out of their hands,” he added.

The ministry of foreign affairs state however said the government in Juba “continues to engage with the community leaders in the area to resolve the issue amicably. The government further halts the wise decision of the United Nations to temporally withdraw and relocate the JBVMM to Abyei.”

“This judicious move will allow the government to dampen the flaring local sentiments and thus prepare the ground for future deployment of the JBVMM.”