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South Sudan rejects UN proposal to send more peacekeepers
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JUBA, South Sudan (AP) -- South Sudan on Wednesday rejected a U.S. proposal for the U.N. Security Council to send 4,000 additional troops to the East African country, saying it "seriously undermines" its sovereignty.
Government spokesman Michael Makuei said the proposal allows peacekeepers to "engage in combat" and gives the U.N. the ability to govern. The Security Council could vote on the proposal Friday.
The pushback comes as U.N. officials say South Sudan's government has begun a crackdown that includes seizing dozens of passports of U.N. workers and imposing restrictions on travel and delivery of food aid.
Deadly fighting in the capital, Juba, last month raised fears of a renewed civil war after an August 2015 peace deal and worsened a humanitarian crisis.
Rebel leader and former first vice president Riek Machar fled during the fighting and says he will return only when regional peacekeepers secure the capital. An East African political body, IGAD, last week said South Sudan had agreed to a regional force, but Makuei on Wednesday disagreed and said the government had not been consulted.
Under the U.S. proposal, the regional force would report to the U.N. force that numbers more than 12,000 peacekeepers but has been criticized for not acting to protect civilians.
The draft resolution also calls for a vote on an arms embargo if U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reports that South Sudan's authorities have blocked deployment of the regional force.
"If South Sudan is turned into a U.N. protectorate, then this is not the end of the game but the beginning," the government spokesman, Makuei, said.
South Sudan's government has seized at least 86 passports of U.N. workers and imposed other restrictions that are a "clear violation" of the U.N.'s operating agreement with the government, a spokeswoman for the U.N. mission, Yasmina Bouziane, told The Associated Press. South Sudan's foreign minister, Deng Alor, has called it a temporary safety measure.
The U.N. also has said the government has forbid it from traveling south of the capital.
In addition, its World Food Program has had its flight clearances revoked for all food drops coming from neighboring Ethiopia, said a spokesman, George Fominyen. The U.N. has warned that millions in the country will face food shortage in the coming months.