As the one week shaky ceasefire seems to hold on in Juba, South Sudan, African leaders sitting at an AU summit in Kigali on Sunday agreed to re-enforce the UN-Mission with a regional force under IGAD if they are to save lives and pacify Juba.
IGAD called on the UN Security Council to give it a mandate that would allow it to separate the parties to the conflict and “pacify Juba”.
The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had the inception of the recent conflict called for an arms embargo on South Sudan. This however did not get past the AU summit because of opposition from Uganda, which has strong ties to Kiir.
The recent clashes in Juba and other parts of South Sudan are believed to have claimed over 300 lives after forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those supporting his rival Vice-President Riek Machar got engaged in a four-bloody battle.
The violence raised fears of a breakdown in protracted efforts to end a civil war that began in December 2013 with battles in Juba between the same rival groups.
As discussions went on at the meeting that ended on Monday, IGAD Executive Secretary, Mahboub Maalim, proposed a three-fold approach to addressing the South Sudan crisis.
“First, impose an immediate arms embargo on South Sudan. Second, enact additional targeted sanctions on leaders and commanders working to unravel the peace process. Third, fortify the UN Mission in South Sudan, UNMISS,” the IGAD Executive Secretary said.
Many member states argued that it was better to have an African constituted armed force that can be used to handle conflicts like that in South Sudan.
“The UN doesn’t have the mandate to impose peace,” African Union (AU) Peace and Security Commissioner Smail Chergui said at a summit in Kigali.
“They are there where there is peace to keep. African troops are ready to engage in very difficult situations. It is our responsibility,” he added.
There is currently a 12,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, UNMISS, which has however faced criticism on many occasions for what critics say is it’s for failure to stem the latest bloodshed or fully protect civilians during the fighting.
Chergui said the mooted force for South Sudan would be modelled on the 3,000 strong Force Intervention Brigade deployed within the UN’s mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which proved decisive in neutralising the M23 rebellion in 2013.
IGAD, a bloc of east African states and the key player behind the proposed force, on Sunday Chergui said the international community would have to persuade Kiir to drop his opposition to the deployment of the new force.
The summit also endorsed a plan for the AU to start withdrawing its 20,000 troops deployed in Somalia in the UN-endorsed AMISOM mission starting from October 2018.
Before that date, there would be “very robust and collective attacks” on Shabab insurgents in the south of the country.
South Sudan warring factions have received the decision to deploy a regional peacekeeping force in the country with mixed reactions.
The new developments have however been received with mixed reactions especially from the 2 warring parties with a government official from Prseident Salvar Kiir’s faction calling it “Unfortunate ” and that it “will not work”, in reference to the decisio taken by Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
“That proposal will not work, because a problem is not solved by another problem and this thinking is unfortunate” said Minister Martin Elia Lomuro in an interview with Sudan Tribune.
Meanwhile the opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In opposition (SPLM-IO) under it’s leader Dr. Riek Machar welcomed the move saying it would guarantee security of its officials who feel threatened by attacks from government forces.
Machar’s Spokesperson James Gatdet told the media earlier that a peacekeeping force was long overdue.
“President Kiir is not in control of incidents that occur around him. He is not in control of his army commanders and other organized forces. So how do you trust protection from a leader who is not in control, or who might have been blessing violent actions of his commanders or security personnel?” Gatdet wondered.
IGAD in a statement asked warring factions in South Sudan to demilitarize Juba and give way for regional forces to harmonies relations in Juba.
Earlier, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta told UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon that the region, would urgently provide more troops to the UNMISS and provide protection to leadership and the citizens.
“We have all watched events in South Sudan with sorrow. Our youngest brother has fallen, yet again, into division and violence. It is our responsibility – all of us, but especially those in the region – to restore peace, and to restore it durably,” said President Kenyatta according to the statement from his office.
“Let me be clear: those of us in the region have primary responsibility for peace and security here. But that responsibility is also collective – all of us must think carefully, and work hard, in the cause of peace,” he added.
Kenyatta asked UN Security Council to modify the mandate of UNMISS “so that it can separate those who have turned to violence, so that it can protect the infrastructure South Sudan has built, and so that it can enforce the peace. That is what collective responsibility means.”
The top regional official said that the chiefs of staff from five countries comprising Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan and Uganda have proposed reinforcement of UNMISS troops from the region under the same UNMISS mandate.
Among the proposals was to task the south Sudan government to give way to humanitarian assistance to reach people in need.
“The government must uphold it responsibility and open up corridors to allow UN and humanitarian actors to provide vital supplies and other assistance to the affected civilians, as well as access for medical evacuations,” sounded the call from UNMISS.
Welcome back Morocco?
The summit also saw the first steps of the possible return to the AU of Morocco, the only African state that is not part of the union.
Morocco quit the bloc 32 years ago in protest at its decision to accept Western Sahara as a member.
Morocco maintains that Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, is an integral part of the kingdom even though local Sahrawi people led by the Polisario Front have long campaigned for the right to self-determination.
“For a long time our friends have been asking us to return to them, so that Morocco can take up its natural place within its institutional family. The moment has now come,” King Mohammed VI said in a message sent to the summit.
“We consider Morocco a brother country and would be very happy to welcome them back,” said Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama.
“But I think a lot will also depend on the terms on which Morocco would like to come back,” he cautioned.
The heads of state failed to name a successor to Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to become the AU’s new commission chair.
None of the three candidates garnered the two-thirds majority necessary, and a new ballot will be held at the next AU summit, due in January 2017 in Addis Ababa.
The leaders did agree on financing the bloc through a 0.2 percent levy on imports, so as to reduce its dependence on donors, who currently contribute 73 percent of the $781 million (708 million euro) budget.
Rwanda’s Finance Minister Claver Gatete said this could bring in as much as $1.2 billion (1.1 billion euros).
Dlamini-Zuma welcomed the “historic landmark decision” as “an unprecedented leap forward for African self-reliance and dignity”.
Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, hosting the summit, said the plan “puts responsibility and ownership in our hands”.
“We need to start doing things differently, and better,” he told delegates at the opening ceremony.
