South Sudan: UN Officials Complain After Government Block Staff from Traveling Based on Ethnicity
By Staff Writer
United Nations (UN) has complained, demanding an explanation from the South Sudanese government after four of their local staff was barred from taking a plane and had their passports confiscated on Monday June 30 by National Security officers.
UN has often accused the warring forces in South Sudan of blocking UN peacekeepers as the civil war that has devastated the young nation continues to rage.
The incident occurred when the group from UN mission (UNMISS) in the country, attempted to board a plane to Entebbe Uganda and were believed to be based on officials ethnicity. They also had their UN identity cards taken from them.
"The staff members were traveling on UN official business for a training course at the UN regional support center in Entebbe," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday July 2.
South Sudan has been in political turmoil since President Salva Kiir sacked his deputy Riek Machar last year, triggering a conflict that has reopened deep ethnic tensions in the world's youngest country which only won independence from Sudan in 2011.
Kiir comes from the dominant Dinka ethnic group, while Machar, now rebel leader, is from another major tribe, the Nuer.
“The mission was not given any legal explanation or other reason for barring their official travel."
After the intervention of UNMISS, the documents were retrieved on Wednesday July 2, but no explanation has been provided by the government for their initial seizure.
"A similar incident occurred with two other UNMISS national staff members at the airport" in the South Sudanese capital Juba on Tuesday July 1, the spokesman added.
The fighting in South Sudan erupted in mid-December after months of political tensions sparked by the sacking of Machar. Thousands have died in the conflict and more than 1.3 million people have been driven from their homes.
The U.N. Security Council almost doubled the mandated number of peacekeepers in late December 2013 to 12,500 troops and 1,323 police, but so far only some 8,100 troops are on the ground.