South Sudan shows progress in State-building, but faces security challenges
- UN
Special Representative for South Sudan Hilde Johnson
3 November 2011 -
South Sudan has made significant progress in establishing State institutions
and integrating militias into the national army, but faces challenges in
protecting civilians and brokering peaceful coexistence among feuding
tribes, the head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the new
nation said today.
Outlining the key achievements of the State since it became independent from
Sudan in July, Hilde Johnson, the Secretary-General's Special Representative
and head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (
<
http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/unmiss/> UNMISS), cited the
formation of a new and more representative Government.
South Sudan's secession followed a referendum in January when the
overwhelming majority voted for independence, six years after a landmark
peace agreement ended decades of war between the north and the south.
Of course there is much to be done to strengthen and develop these
democratic institutions, but it is important to acknowledge that these have
been put in place.
Ms, Johnson told a news conference at UN Headquarters in New York that South
Sudan had also founded a new legislature, comprising a legislative assembly
and a council of states.
"Of course there is much to be done to strengthen and develop these
democratic institutions, but it is important to acknowledge that these have
been put in place," she said.
Consultations have also begun on new laws to government political parties
and elections, as well as on an envisaged constitutional review.
Hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese have also returned to the new
country over the past three months with the support of UN agencies and other
humanitarian organizations, Ms. Johnson said, adding the return process was
expected to be completed by next March or April.
She cited as a "very major achievement" the fact that the Government of
South Sudan had managed to have members of three important rebel groups or
renegade militias integrated into the national army, the Sudan People
Liberation Army (SPLA).
Some militias, however, are yet to be brought into the fold, she said,
noting that the reintegration process had benefited from an amnesty declared
by President Salva Kiir that allows members of renegade militias to join the
army without repercussions.
Ms. Johnson identified violence in Jonglei state as the first test of the
new Government's capacity to ensure security and the protection of
civilians. UNMISS is active in Jonglei trying to ensure that reprisal
attacks do not occur following the bloody violence there in August between
the Murle and Lou Nuer communities.
"Through a comprehensive, multi-pronged approach, we have together with the
Government of South Sudan been able to so far deter retaliatory attacks, and
we have also facilitated a reconciliation process where the church has taken
the lead in trying to bring the communities together and prevent retaliatory
attacks," she said. It was encouraging that the SPLA had also been deployed
in Jonglei with strong instructions to protect civilians.
On relations between South Sudan and Sudan, Ms. Johnson stressed it was
crucial that outstanding issues of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA),
which paved the way for the new State's independence, be resolved amicably
for peace and stability to take root.
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Received on Thu Nov 03 2011 - 19:47:50 EDT