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UN / SOUTH SUDAN WRAP
STORY: UN / SOUTH SUDAN WRAP
TRT: 03:30
SOURCE: UNTV / UNMISS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 31 MARCH 2016, NEW YORK CITY / 31 MARCH 2016, JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN / FILE
RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
31 MARCH 2016, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Festus Mogae, Chairman of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation commission for South Sudan (JMEC):
“Implementation of the most aspects of the agreement continues to be delayed. The key milestone for the initial element of the agreement, the formation of the transitional government of national unity, has yet to be reached. Violations of the permanent ceasefire also continue, as most recently documented by the ceasefire and transitional security arrangements monitoring mechanism in the states of Upper Nile, Western Equatoria, and Western Bahr el-Ghazal.”
4. Wide shot, Council with SRSG Ellen Margrethe Løj on screen
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ellen Margrethe Løj, Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS):
“Tension between the Dinka and Shilluk communities remain high following the outbreak of violence that occurred in the UN protection site in Malakal in February. Since that incident UNMISS has been supporting humanitarian partners to re-establish facilities and restore service delivery within the site, while also providing force protection for food distribution, both within the site and to the IDPs who relocated into Malakal town.”
6. Med shot, Mogae and Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kate Gilmore
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephen O'Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief:
“The challenge in South Sudan is an increasing disconnect between the assurances of national and the actions of local groups. All too often, even when official assurances are received at the national level, they are not respected by local actors. Illegal exactions and taxes remain rampant, and humanitarian convoys are consistently subjected to demands for payment at checkpoints.”
8. Med shot, South Sudan Ambassador
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Kate Gilmore, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“A legacy of violence and revenge underscores South Sudan’s urgent need for accountability for both past and present-day human rights violations and abuses, as well as violations of international humanitarian law. Yet in spite of the repeated public and formal commitments given by the parties to the conflict to end the violence and punish perpetrators, no evidence has been found of any genuine effort by either the government or the opposition to live up to these undertakings.”
10. Med shot, O'Brien
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Joseph Moum Majak Ngor Malok, Deputy Permanent Representative of South Sudan to the United Nations:
“It is acknowledged that the SPLA, the SPLA-IO, and other criminals use the same uniform. Unless the culprits are physically apprehended, it is impossible to determine whether it is the government’s soldiers and its allied militia, the SPLA-IO, or other armed criminals committed the crime.”
12. Wide shot, Security Council
UNMISS - 31 MARCH 2016, JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN
13. Close up, peacekeeper with UN flight arriving in background
14. Med shot, SPLA- IO soldiers leaving the plane
15. Med shot, soldiers being greeted
16. Med shot, officials greeting the soldiers
FILE - UNMISS -18 FEBURARY, 2016, MALAKAL, SOUTH SUDAN
17. Wide shot, wounded man being helped
18. Wide shot, internally displaced people at the UNMISS log-base roadside
19. Med shot, pan left, disabled women crawling to people carrying belongings
Senior United Nations officials today (31 March) cautioned that the humanitarian and human rights situation in South Sudan remains dire, and asked the Security Council to call on the parties to the conflict and armed actors to uphold their obligations under international law to protect civilians and aid workers, and grant free access for delivery of life-saving supplies.
The Chairman of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation commission for South Sudan (JMEC), Festus Mogae, told the Council that “implementation of the most aspects of the agreement continues to be delayed.”
Mogae said “the key milestone for the initial element of the agreement, the formation of the transitional government of national unity, has yet to be reached. Violations of the permanent ceasefire also continue, as most recently documented by the ceasefire and transitional security arrangements monitoring mechanism in the states of Upper Nile, Western Equatoria, and Western Bahr el-Ghazal.”
The Head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), Ellen Margrethe Løj, said that “tension between the Dinka and Shilluk communities remain high following the outbreak of violence that occurred in the UN protection site in Malakal in February.”
Since that incident, she told the Council, “UNMISS has been supporting humanitarian partners to re-establish facilities and restore service delivery within the site, while also providing force protection for food distribution, both within the site and to the IDPs who relocated into Malakal town.”
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordination, Stephen O'Brien said “the challenge in South Sudan is an increasing disconnect between the assurances of national and the actions of local groups.”
O'Brien said “all too often, even when official assurances are received at the national level, they are not respected by local actors. Illegal exactions and taxes remain rampant, and humanitarian convoys are consistently subjected to demands for payment at checkpoints.”
Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Kate Gilmore, in her statement said “a legacy of violence and revenge underscores South Sudan’s urgent need for accountability for both past and present-day human rights violations and abuses, as well as violations of international humanitarian law.”
She said “ in spite of the repeated public and formal commitments given by the parties to the conflict to end the violence and punish perpetrators, no evidence has been found of any genuine effort by either the government or the opposition to live up to these undertakings.”
For his part, South Sudan’s Ambassador Joseph Moum Majak Ngor Malok denied that government soldiers were committing human rights violations. He said “it is acknowledged that the SPLA, the SPLA-IO, and other criminals use the same uniform. Unless the culprits are physically apprehended, it is impossible to determine whether it is the government’s soldiers and its allied militia, the SPLA-IO, or other armed criminals committed the crime.”
In February, South Sudan's President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar signed a peace deal agreeing to run a unity government which would culminate in Government elections.
Despite a Presidential Statement on 17 March, in which the Council urged the Government of South Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) to allow people to move freely and aid to get to those in need, more than 17 incidents of obstruction of access have been reported.
Despite such obstacles, the UN and partners were able to reach more than 4.5 million people with assistance, often in the most remote areas.
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