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8403rd Security Council Meeting: Reports of Secretary-General on Sudan and South Sudan
With a new roadmap for peace in South Sudan facing persistent challenges, the integral involvement of women is vital, along with international support to ensure that the country’s leaders fulfil their responsibilities, the head of United Nations peacekeeping told the Security Council today.
“It is imperative that women be represented in the ceasefire and transitional…mechanisms, as stipulated in the agreement,” Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under‑Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations said, in a briefing on the joint visit of United Nations and African Union officials to South Sudan from 7 to 9 October.
Joining him in briefing the Council were Smaïl Chergui, African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security (via tele-videoconference) and Phumzile Mlambo‑Ngcuka, Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women). Both accompanied the Under‑Secretary-General on the mission and met with leaders in Government and women’s organizations and visited the protection of civilians site in Bentiu that is administered by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
The Under-Secretary-General said that the signing of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan by the parties ‑ in which the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) had been integrally involved, ‑ were followed by confidence-building measures and preliminary meetings on implementation.
However, he acknowledged that there remained deep challenges and scepticism over whether the leaders of the South Sudanese parties will follow through on their commitments. Therefore, the Council and the regional partners must ensure accountability. Permanent adherence to the cease-fire and creation of the necessary structures that meet the Agreement’s guarantee of 35 per cent women’s representation across the executive arm, the Council of Ministers and the pre-transitional institutions was critical, he stressed.
The Executive Director of UN-Women said that South Sudanese women found themselves caught up in a “futile man’s war”, adding that they were frequently the victims of sexual assault, lost family members or had their livelihoods destroyed. Lacking any access to their country’s leaders, they appealed to the United Nations and the African Union to do more to hold those leaders accountable and had been disappointed by past resurgence of violence.
However, she underscored that the signing of the Revitalized Agreement with its requirement of 35 per cent women in the composition of important transitional and Governmental structures, raised hope. Women not only called for the immediate cessation of hostilities but also urged leaders of all warring factions to communicate with their followers and inform them about developments, as the fighting had not yet completely subsided.
Nonetheless, despite guarantees, she pointed out that so far only three women have been included in key transitional bodies. She urged Council members as well as colleagues in IGAD and the African Union to hold the parties to account. Women must play leadership roles from the beginning to ensure that institutions are reconstituted in a gender-sensitive way that focus on protection of civilians from all forms of violence, she stressed.
The African Union Commissioner said that both the African Union and the United Nations are duty-bound to engage the Government to emphasize the need of implementing the Agreement through coordinated, sustained attention. Welcoming the efforts of IGAD as well, he stressed that the Government must create an environment conducive to the integration of oppositions groups and factions outside the agreement must be brought to the table. Coordination between all concerned organizations was crucial in supporting implementation, he added, while emphasizing that “the African Union shares the view that the responsibility to fully implement the agreement now rests with South Sudan.”
Council members welcomed the Revitalized Agreement and its requirement for women’s involvement, while expressing concern over continued clashes, targeting of civilians, human rights abuses, sexual and gender-based violence, food insecurity and impediments to humanitarian assistance.
Most speakers called for all parties to immediately observe the required cessation of hostilities agreement of December 2017 without delay and allow unobstructed humanitarian operations, lifting taxes and local fees on such activities. Most also urged the provisions on women’s participation to be met as a matter of priority.
While most speakers also urged the Council and the African Union to ensure accountability by remaining closely focused on implementation of the Revitalized Agreement by South Sudanese leaders, some, beginning with the representative of the United States, stressed the need for the application of targeted sanctions on those who impede progress.
China’s representative, Council President for November and speaking in his national capacity, urged all of South Sudan’s partners to recognize the complexity of the issues facing the country and respect the country’s leadership in tackling them. Imposing any solution on them must be avoided, he cautioned, while also stressing the importance of women’s involvement.
The representative of the Russian Federation, however, emphasized that only a political solution could improve the situation of women and civilians in general, while he, along with the representative of Kazakhstan, underlined the principle of “African solutions to African problems”.
“A time of peace in South Sudan has arrived,” that country’s representative declared, thanking all those African partners who helped bring about the Revitalized Agreement. Citing President Salva Kiir Mayardit’s pledge to implement the accord in good faith and recounting the open celebrations after the signing, he said that elements of confidence-building are now visible to the population. Describing steps already taken under the Revitalized Agreement, he urged the Security Council to join the Secretary-General, African Union and IGAD in making sustainable peace a reality in South Sudan.
Also speaking today were the representatives of Poland, Côte d’Ivoire, France, Ethiopia, Kuwait, Sweden, United Kingdom, Equatorial Guinea, Netherlands, Bolivia and Peru.
The meeting began at 10 a.m. and ended at 11:55 a.m.
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