Kiir meets head of UN mission ahead of Security Council visit

September 2, 2016 (JUBA) - The South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and the head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the country, Mageratte Leoj met on Thursday ahead of a visit to the capital, Juba of the Security Council delegation next week.

President Salva Kiir addresses the nation at the South Sudan National Parliament in Juba, November 18, 2015. (Photo Reuters/Jok Solomon)

The closed door meeting, officials said, focused on the peace implementation.

"We discussed a number of issues on the situation in South Sudan and [...] how the cooperation was going on between the mission and the government in term of following up to the latest resolution that the [Security] Council adopted regarding the United Nations mandate," the UN mission head told the state-ownedSSBC Thursday,

"I hope it was useful also for His Excellence [President Kiir], it was certainly useful for me," she added.

John Andruga, a ministry of foreign affairs official who attended the meeting, said the government warmly welcomes the high level Security Council members vising Juba.

"The President have assured the [UN Secretary General] Special Representative that the government is looking forward to welcoming them to Juba so that they can be able to see for themselves the reality of the situation in Juba," he said.

According to the official, members of the Security Council would also be able to get a clear picture of the security situation in the South Sudanese capital "because if you are in New York, you will be able to know exactly what is happening here."

Last month, the Security Council passed a resolution authorising the deployment of 4,000 strong force with a mandate to use force to ensure smooth implementation of the shaky peace agreement that ended 21 months of war between South Sudan army and the armed opposition faction (SPLM-IO) led by his former deputy Riek Machar.

The accord suffered a setback in July when fighting erupted between rival forces in Juba, forcing Machar to flee for his life.

The South Sudanese leader has referred the decision to accept or reject deployment of the regional protection forces to parliament, although no date was set for deliberations.