S/PV.7751 Security Council

The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. Members of the Council have before them document S/2016/660, which contains the text of a draft resolution submitted by the United States of America. I wish to draw the attention of Council members to document S/2016/552, which contains the report of the Secretary-General on South Sudan. I now give the floor to those members of the Council who wish to make statements before the voting.

The renewal of violence in South Sudan earlier this month was horrifying, but sadly not unexpected. It was horrifying because, as we all know, in only a few days 300 men, women and children were reportedly killed, tens of thousands were displaced, and 4,500 metric tons of humanitarian aid — food that would have fed 220,000 people in dire need for a full month — was looted. Yet the renewal of the conflict in Juba was also foreseeable because of the inability of South Sudan’s leaders to work together and put the interests of the people of South Sudan ahead of their own. The Heads of State and Government of Intergovernmental Authority on Development Plus, South Sudan’s neighbours and their partners, are now calling for the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) to have an enhanced capacity — particularly in Juba — in response to the deteriorating security situation there. The African Union Assembly has endorsed this decision; the Peace and Security Council has as well. And they are all recommending that regional forces contribute to UNMISS. We all need to support them. The United States believes that the region’s proposal offers a basis for re-establishing a secure environment in Juba, which is critical if the parties are to make progress on implementing the peace agreement they signed onto almost a year ago, as well as to ensure the unfettered delivery of humanitarian aid to those who are at grave risk of famine. Of course, the proposal — as many Council members have noted — merits thorough review, and translating its purpose into a mandate for UNMISS must be done with great care and in consultation with the troop-contributing countries and all members of the Council. We have to get this right. But it also must be done with great urgency. Let us not be fooled into believing that time is on our side. It is not. Events in recent weeks have demonstrated how quickly violence can reignite and how devastating are the human consequences when it does. I want to stress this also for Council members here today — we have just received very disturbing reports of significant violence in the Equatorias in South Sudan, and all of us need to be on alert, I think, this weekend, because events could spiral rapidly out of control yet again. Every report of a spike in violence, of course, costs human lives and leaves an indelible and searing mark on those affected by it. Just to give one example, on 18 July a young woman was reportedly grabbed only meters away from the gate to the United Nations camp in Juba where she had taken shelter after being displaced by the violence. She told a reporter from The Guardian that the five men in uniform gave her a choice. She said, “I could choose the one who would rape me, or they all would”. The woman said, “I begged them to kill me instead”. Unfortunataely, she told the reporter, the men dragged her to the side of the road and raped her in broad daylight. UNMISS as it is currently configured, has proven unable — and in some cases unwilling — to prevent horrors like this. We must work together urgently to fix that. No one has more of a stake in finding a way out of this conflict and in bringing justice than the people of South Sudan, who have already endured such tremendous suffering in the short history of their nation, and of course their neighbours, who have been clear about what this situation requires. Let us be motivated by the pain of South Sudanese civilians and by the initiative shown by the region, and let us work with a tremendous sense of urgency and will to protect civilians and create the conditions critical to bringing an end to this ghastly conflict in South Sudan. The draft resolution before us offers additional time for the regional leaders to meet and engage the Government of South Sudan, and it offers us additional time to find a way forward before we proceed with mandating this new force within UNMISS.

The Council is ready to proceed to the vote on the draft resolution before it. I shall put the draft resolution to the vote now.

The draft resolution received 15 votes in favour. The draft resolution has been adopted unanimously as resolution 2302 (2016). I shall now give the floor to those members of the Council who wish to make statements following the voting.

My delegation voted in favour of resolution 2302 (2016), extending the mandate of the United Mission in South Sudan, which was due to expire at the end of this month. Given the Mission’s critical role, I take this opportunity to thank its personnel for their actions to protect civilians, sometimes at risk of their own lives. The rapid response to the request made by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) reflects the resolve of African countries to end the conflict in South Sudan and the suffering of its people as soon as possible. The proposals put forward are far- reaching and we hope that they will be implemented. The proposals can best be implemented by keeping the divergences of positions and the principles of peacekeeping in mind. Following the adoption of the resolution today, we now have 12 days to achieve consensus on renewing the Mission mandate. We should have liked to be given more time to consider our options for implementing the proposals before us. We need to keep the suffering of the people of South Sudan closer to heart and prevent the violence from spiralling out of control. Peace in South Sudan will prevail only if the African Union and the Security Council join forces to settle the conflict. Trust between the factions must also be rebuilt and the root causes of the conflict analysed. Any other solution would be a short-term placebo. We hope that next week’s Igad Summit will identify as soon as possible a solution to the situation that takes the various positions into account so that the suffering of the South Sudanese people can come to an end.

China endorses the extension of the mandate of the United Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). China is closely following developments in the situation in South Sudan and hopes that the parties there will effectively implement the agreement on the resolution of the conflict in their country and honour their commitment to the ceasefire so as to restore stability and pursue the development of their country. China attaches great importance to the efforts of the countries of the region to achieve peace and development in South Sudan, and supports the role of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development as the main path to that end. The urgent task before us now is to find the best way to achieve peace in South Sudan based on the political and security situation there and respect for the country’s sovereignty. In the recent attack on UNMISS, two Chinese peacekeepers lost their precious lives for the cause of peace. China will continue to unswervingly support United Nations peacekeeping operations and to increase its contributions to the cause of international peace. We appreciate the positive role played by UNMISS in advancing the peace process in South Sudan. China supports the ongoing implementation of the UNMISS mandate. When discussing the adjustment of mandates, the Security Council should step up its consultations with and heed the opinions of the countries concerned and of those of the region. The Mission should strengthen capacity-building in the relevant areas so as to effectively protect the security and safety of peacekeepers. China is ready to engage with the relevant parties on the issue.

My delegation should like once again to call the Security Council’s attention to the procedures and time frames in which draft resolutions are circulated to the Council for its consideration. Resolution 2302 (2016), of which my delegation voted in favour, was circulated by the penholder for the first time on the evening of Wednesday 27 July, less than 48 hours ago, and issued in blue yesterday afternoon, fewer than 24 hours later, with no silence procedure and without taking the comments of several members of the Council into account. Just a few hours ago, a new version was circulated in blue, in which the date of the mandate expiration had been changed from Monday 8 August to Friday to 12 August. It was our understanding that the proposal for a technical extension until 12 August, with the intention of allowing further time for negotiating a new draft resolution, implies a potentially significant change in the mandate of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan. We believe that the draft text was considered only by a small and highly select number of Security members. It would be a mistake if we were to follow such a procedure in the future. We have noted in prior discussions that this procedure puts us in the difficult position of having either to accept, abstain on or vote against a fait accompli. We do not want to be faced with those three options in any future recurrence of this situation.