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STORY: UN / ABYEI
TRT: 04:04
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 06 NOVEMBER 2023, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior UN Headquarters
06 NOVEMBER 2023, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Med shot, USG Lacroix
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, United Nations:
“The outbreak of armed conflict in the Sudan in April interrupted the encouraging signs of dialogue between the Sudan and South Sudan witnessed earlier in 2023. It effectively put on hold the political process with regard to the final status of Abyei and border issues.”
5. Med shot, Security Council
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, United Nations:
“In Abyei, the Sudan crisis has resulted in an influx of displaced people. At Amiet Market, our humanitarian partners have recorded over 9,000 people who have sought refuge from the fighting. The Mission has also seen increased weapons circulation in Abyei, a situation that may have been exacerbated by the situation in the Sudan. The conflict has also created economic hardship for the population of Abyei as the flow of basic goods and commodities, many of which came from the north, has been disrupted. UNISFA, too, has had to adjust its deployment routes and supply arrangements in line with the new reality.”
7. Med shot, Security Council
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, United Nations:
“The targeting of UNISFA personnel remains of great concern. Over the past six months, there were three occasions where peacekeepers were attacked and injured. Thankfully, these colleagues are now in stable condition - I extend my gratitude and support to them, and to their families and respective governments. The safety of our peacekeepers is a top priority, and investigations into the attacks are ongoing.”
9. Med shot, Council
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, United Nations:
“The Sudan crisis has delayed the completion of UNISFA’s reconfiguration from a single-TCC mission to a UN multinational peacekeeping force as the deployment of personnel and equipment was disrupted and shifted to the longer southern route. However, by the first quarter of 2024, we expect the remainder of troops and contingent-owned equipment to have arrived, and the Mission to have reached its full operational capacity.”
11. Wide shot, Council
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Horn of Africa:
“Indeed, in addition to thousands of Sudanese fleeing the conflict, more than 353,000 registered returnees and refugees hosted by Sudan have crossed into South Sudan in a country where 2/3 of the population is already in dire need of humanitarian assistance. With the military developments in Sudan, and most recently, RSF’s seizure of Belila Airport and Belila’s oil field, the military confrontation between SAF and RSF is getting closer to the border with Abyei and South Sudan.”
13. Wide shot, Council
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Horn of Africa:
“Given the proximity of most Misserya groups to the RSF and the recruitment campaigns by the warring parties, these military developments are likely to have adverse consequences on the Abyei’s social fabric and the already fragile coexistence between the Misserya and the Ngok Dinka.”
15. Med shot, Council
16. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith Mohamed, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Sudan:
“The president of Sudan has expressed many times his desire and his commitment to ensure the implementation of all these provisional arrangements at the administrative legislative level, or at the level of establishing a police force and we're waiting for our brothers from South Sudan to apply these arrangements.”
17. Med shot, Council
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Cecilia Adeng, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, South Sudan:
“We condemn any acts of violence and harassments against UNISFA peacekeepers and we call for accountability and justice for the perpetrators.”
19. Wide shot, Council
The head of the UN Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, said that the outbreak of armed conflict in the Sudan in April “interrupted the encouraging signs of dialogue between the Sudan and South Sudan”, and it “effectively put on hold” the political process with regard to the final status of Abyei and border issues.
Briefing the Security Council today (06 Nov), Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, said, “In Abyei, the Sudan crisis has resulted in an influx of displaced people. At Amiet Market, our humanitarian partners have recorded over 9,000 people who have sought refuge from the fighting.”
He added, “the Mission has also seen increased weapons circulation in Abyei, a situation that may have been exacerbated by the situation in the Sudan. The conflict has also created economic hardship for the population of Abyei as the flow of basic goods and commodities, many of which came from the north, has been disrupted.”
Lacroix said that the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), “has had to adjust its deployment routes and supply arrangements in line with the new reality.”
According to him, “the targeting of UNISFA personnel remains of great concern.”
The Under-Secretary-General continued, “over the past six months, there were three occasions where peacekeepers were attacked and injured. Thankfully, these colleagues are now in stable condition - I extend my gratitude and support to them, and to their families and respective governments.”
He added, “the safety of our peacekeepers is a top priority, and investigations into the attacks are ongoing.”
Lacroix also said, “the Sudan crisis has delayed the completion of UNISFA’s reconfiguration from a single-TCC mission to a UN multinational peacekeeping force as the deployment of personnel and equipment was disrupted and shifted to the longer southern route.:
He concluded, “however, by the first quarter of 2024, we expect the remainder of troops and contingent-owned equipment to have arrived, and the Mission to have reached its full operational capacity.”
The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Horn of Africa, Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, also addressed the Council. She said, “in addition to thousands of Sudanese fleeing the conflict, more than 353,000 registered returnees and refugees hosted by Sudan have crossed into South Sudan in a country where 2/3 of the population is already in dire need of humanitarian assistance.”
According to her, “with the military developments in Sudan, and most recently, RSF’s seizure of Belila Airport and Belila’s oil field, the military confrontation between SAF and RSF is getting closer to the border with Abyei and South Sudan.”
Tetteh also said, “Given the proximity of most Misserya groups to the RSF and the recruitment campaigns by the warring parties, these military developments are likely to have adverse consequences on the Abyei’s social fabric and the already fragile coexistence between the Misserya and the Ngok Dinka.”
Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith Mohamed, Permanent Representative of Sudan to the United Nations, said, “The president of Sudan has expressed many times his desire and his commitment to ensure the implementation of all these provisional arrangements at the administrative legislative level, or at the level of establishing a police force and we're waiting for our brothers from South Sudan to apply these arrangements.”
For her part, Cecilia Adeng, Deputy Permanent Representative of South Sudan, said, “We condemn any acts of violence and harassments against UNISFA peacekeepers and we call for accountability and justice for the perpetrators.”
The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) was established through United Nations Security Council Resolution 1990 of June 27, 2011.
