Kenya: Troops May Join UN Mission in South Sudan
By Staff Writer
Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) will send a 2,500-member military contingent to the newest African state, that may include Kenyan troops if the government approves, said a source at the United Nations (UN) on Wednesday May 28.
IGAD’s contingent is part of 5,000 additional peace-keepers that was approved was approved by the UN Security Council on Tuesday May 27 for indefinite deployment in South Sudan.
Kenyan participation is a topic of discussion involving the government, IGAD, the UN and other parties. The talks, which have been underway for weeks, are expected to be concluded soon.
These comes after a closed door meeting at State House between President Uhuru Kenyatta and South Sudanese former vice president Riek Machar, which began after 8pm on Wednesday May 28 discussing the Sudanese conflict which has so far claimed hundreds of lives and destruction of property in Africa’s youngest State.
Early this month, President Salva Kiir and Dr Machar struck a deal that caused a brief ceasefire before fighting resumed after the President claimed he had been coerced into signing the Addis Ababa deal after Ethiopian Prime Minister Haile Mariam Desalegn threatened to arrest them.
Dr. Machar, who recently snubbed attempts by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to talk with him over the ongoing conflict in Juba, said he welcomes any plans by Kenya that bring long term solution to the crisis.
If Kenyan government gives a green light, the soldiers will join a “protection force” of East African troops that will be led by an Ethiopian commander, operating under UN Mission in South Sudan (UNmiss).
IGAD forces will be assigned specifically to protect teams from IGAD states that are already in South Sudan to monitor and verify the January 23 ceasefire agreement between the government and the armed opposition.
The East African troops may include Rwandans, Kenyans and Ethiopians also with responsibility of protecting civilians in accordance with a revised UNmiss mandate adopted by the Security Council on Tuesday.
A UN spokesman declined to discuss details of the IGADs deployment, but Secretary - General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement on Tuesday that he “welcomes the deployment within UNmiss as an IGAD task-force.”
Mean while IGAD plans to convene a special conference expected to bring together all the member States is to be held in the first week of June to discuss the bloody conflict in the South Sudan.
Organizers of the event have proposed Kenya as the perfect venue for the meeting with others proposing Addis Ababa but no agreement been made.