Showing posts with label UNMISS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UNMISS. Show all posts

Saturday, August 16, 2025

South Sudan: UNSC Briefing and Consultations

THE security situation has remained tense since clashes erupted in March. 


The South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) has continued operations, including ground offensive and aerial bombardments against opposition-held areas and other armed groups, including in the Greater Upper Nile and Greater Equatoria regions. 


The ceasefire agreed to in the revitalised agreement has effectively collapsed, with force unification stalled amid ongoing SSPDF offensives, as well as defections to and recruitment by the SSPDF. 


Intercommunal violence has further aggravated insecurity, resulting in hundreds of civilian casualties in the Greater Bahr el Ghazal region, according to the Secretary-General’s report.


At Monday’s meeting, several Council members are expected to raise the country’s dire humanitarian situation, including rising food insecurity. 


These challenges have been compounded by flooding and a collapsing healthcare system amid a severe cholera outbreak


The country also continues to grapple with the adverse humanitarian, security, and economic effects of the ongoing fighting in Sudan and the resulting influx of refugees and South Sudanese returnees.


Impediments to humanitarian access, including attacks on humanitarian workers and looting of humanitarian assets, are another matter of concern for Council members.


Read more in Security Council Report
By What's In Blue 
Dated Friday 15 August 2025
South Sudan: Briefing and Consultations


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Sunday, August 03, 2025

Meetings of UN Security Council on Sudan & S. Sudan

IN August, Panama will hold the presidency of the Security Council.


The Week Ahead at the UN Security Council

IN FOCUS THIS WEEK

4-8 August 2025


Sudan

Monday (4 August)

Closed consultations on Sudan. The meeting was requested by Denmark and the UK (the penholder on the file) to receive an update on the humanitarian and political situations in the country, specifically in light of the recent escalation of violence in North Darfur state and the Kordofan region. Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Sudan Ramtane Lamamra and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk are expected to brief.


Full story: Security Council Report

https://securitycouncilreport.cmail19.com/t/r-e-tklidlhd-yklkuldrhk-p/

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Sudan

Expected Council Action (July 2025)

In July, the Security Council is expected to receive the semi-annual briefing on the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) activities related to the situation in Darfur. ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan is expected to brief.

Full story: Security Council Report

https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/monthly-forecast/2025-07/sudan-36.php

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Sudan 

Status Update since our July Forecast (30 July 2025)

On 10 July, the Council held its semi-annual briefing on the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s Darfur-related activities (S/PV.9955). ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan briefed. Sudan participated in the meeting under rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure.

Full story: Security Council Report

https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/monthly-forecast/2025-08/status-update-since-our-july-forecast-6.php

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South Sudan

Expected Council Action (August 2025)

In August, the Security Council will hold a briefing, followed by consultations, on the situation in South Sudan. Special Representative and Head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Nicholas Haysom will brief on the Secretary-General’s 90-day report on South Sudan and developments in the country.

The mandate of UNMISS expires on 30 April 2026.

Full story:

https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/monthly-forecast/2025-08/south-sudan-35.php

Download Complete Forecast: PDF


https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/2025_08_forecast.pdf

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Sunday, April 06, 2025

The US has revoked visas for South Sudanese. Is Sudan’s conflict merging with South Sudan's conflict?

THE US has abruptly revoked the visas of all South Sudanese, saying the country’s government has failed to accept the return of its citizens “in a timely manner.” The decision means South Sudanese could be returned to a nation again on the brink of civil war or unable to seek the US as a haven. 


Tension is rising in South Sudan after the vice president was put under house arrest. South Sudan is on the brink of another civil war, the United Nations has warned, after weeks of escalating violence and rising tensions between VP Machar and President Kiir. In short, Sudan's conflict could be merging with South Sudan's conflicts. Read more in four reports below.

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From The Associated Press (AP) 
By Cara Anna
Dated Sunday, 06 April 2025, 5:35 PM GMT - full copy:

The US has revoked visas for South Sudanese while civil war threatens at home

South Sudan soldiers patrol the street in Juba, South Sudan on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga) 


FILE - South Sudan's President Salva Kiir attends the swearing-in ceremony for Kenya's new president William Ruto, at Kasarani stadium in Nairobi, Kenya on Sept. 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga, File)


FILE - South Sudanese president Salva Kiir Mayardit, left, shakes hands with Pagan Amum Okiech, leader of the Real-SPLM group, during the launch of high-level peace talks for South Sudan at State House in Nairobi, Kenya, on Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga) 


The United States once cheered the creation of South Sudan as an independent nation. Now the Trump administration has abruptly revoked the visas of all South Sudanese, saying the country’s government has failed to accept the return of its citizens “in a timely manner.”


The decision means South Sudanese could be returned to a nation again on the brink of civil war or unable to seek the U.S. as a haven.


There was no immediate response from South Sudan’s government, which has struggled since independence from Sudan in 2011 to deliver some of the basic services of a state. Years of conflict have left the country of over 11 million people heavily reliant on aid that has been hit hard by another Trump administration decision — sweeping cuts in foreign assistance.


Here’s a look at South Sudan, whose people had been granted temporary protected status by the U.S. because of insecurity at home. That status expires on May 3.


A deadly divide


The euphoria of independence turned to civil war two years later, when rival factions backing President Salva Kiir and deputy Riek Machar opened fire on each other in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, in 2013.


The two men’s tensions have been so much at the heart of the country’s insecurity that Pope Francis once took the extraordinary step of kneeling to kiss their feet in one of his pleas for lasting peace.


Five years of civil war killed hundreds of thousands of people. A peace deal reached in 2018 has been fragile and not fully implemented, to the frustration of the U.S. and other international backers. Notably, South Sudan still hasn’t held a long-delayed presidential election, and Kiir remains in power.


His rivalry with Machar, compounded by ethnic divisions, has simmered through multiple attempts to return Machar as a vice president. Machar has long regarded himself as destined for the presidency, citing a prophecy years ago by a seer from his ethnic group.


Late last month, the threat of war returned. Machar was arrested and his allies in the government and the military were detained following a major escalation: A militia from Machar’s ethnic group had seized an army garrison upcountry. The government responded with airstrikes. Dozens of people were killed. A United Nations helicopter was attacked.


View original: https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-revoked-visas-south-sudanese-163537095.html

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Related


South Sudan on brink of civil war, UN's Haysom warns

UN News by Vibhu Mishra 24 March 2025:

“The time for action is now because the alternative is too terrible to contemplate” -Nicholas Haysom, UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS)

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2025/03/south-sudan-on-brink-of-civil-war-uns.html

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Is South Sudan heading to another civil war?

AlJazeera English video report (28 mins) 28 March 2025:

Tension is rising in South Sudan after the vice president is put under house arrest.

South Sudan is on the brink of another civil war, the United Nations has warned, after weeks of escalating violence and rising tensions between Vice President Riek Machar and President Salva Kiir.

https://www.aljazeera.com/video/inside-story/2025/3/28/is-south-sudan-heading-to-another-civil-war

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Is Sudan’s war merging with South Sudanese conflicts?

AlJazeera English article by Mat Nashed 29 March 2025:

New alliances in Sudan’s conflict risk sparking a regional conflict by drawing in neighbouring South Sudan, analysts tell Al Jazeera. The biggest development was an alliance in February between the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who established a government to rival Sudan’s current de facto leadership.

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Monday, March 24, 2025

South Sudan on brink of civil war, UN's Haysom warns

“The time for action is now because the alternative is too terrible to contemplate” -Nicholas Haysom, UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS)


Read more in report from UN News

By Vibhu Mishra

Dated Monday, 24 March 2025 - full copy:


South Sudan on the brink of civil war, top UN official warns


© WFP/Peter Louis Displaced people in Renk County, Upper Nile State, South Sudan. (file)

South Sudan is teetering on the brink of a return to full-scale civil war as violence escalates and political tensions deepen, the head of the UN Mission in the country (UNMISS) warned on Monday.


Briefing journalists at UN Headquarters in New York via videolink from Juba, Nicholas Haysom described indiscriminate attacks on civilians, mass displacement and rising ethnic tensions.


He urged all parties to pull back from the brink and commit to peace before the country plunges into another devastating conflict.


“A conflict would erase all the hard-won gains made since the 2018 peace deal was signed. It would devastate not only South Sudan but the entire region, which simply cannot afford another war,” he warned.


Fragile peace at risk


South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011, but the world’s youngest nation has been plagued by conflict and instability ever since.


A civil war erupted in 2013 between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those aligned with his former deputy, Riek Machar. The war – marked by ethnic violence, mass atrocities and widespread humanitarian crisis – lasted until a fragile peace deal was signed in 2018.


Though the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement brought a degree of stability, delays in its implementation and continued political rivalries have kept tensions simmering.


Mounting violence


The latest wave of violence erupted on 4 March when the so-called White Army – a youth militia – overran South Sudanese army barracks in Nasir, Upper Nile province.


In response, Government forces launched retaliatory aerial bombardments on civilian areas, using barrel bombs that allegedly contained highly flammable accelerants.


“These indiscriminate attacks on civilians are causing significant casualties and horrific injuries, especially burns, including to women and children,” Mr. Haysom said, adding that at least 63,000 people have fled the area.


Reports indicate that both the White Army and national forces are mobilising for further confrontations, with allegations of child recruitment into armed groups.


The deployment of foreign forces at the request of the Government has further heightened tensions, evoking painful memories of the country’s previous civil wars.


Rising ethnic tensions


Political tensions are also escalating, Mr. Haysom continued.


Senior officials affiliated with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) – the main rival militia – have been removed, replaced, detained, or forced into hiding.


There is also an increasing use of misinformation, disinformation and hate speech, which is fuelling ethnic divisions and fear, making reconciliation even more difficult.


“Given this grim situation, we are left with no other conclusion, but to assess that South Sudan is teetering on the edge of a relapse into civil war,” the senior UN official warned.


Diplomatic efforts stalled


Mr. Haysom further reported that UNMISS has engaged in intensive diplomatic efforts alongside regional and international partners, including the African Union (AU), the regional development bloc, IGAD, and the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission.


However, a scheduled high-level visit by IGAD foreign ministers to Juba, aimed at mediating between the parties, was abruptly postponed by the South Sudanese government without explanation.


“This is a disappointing development at a time when diplomatic outreach is more important than ever,” he said.


Recommit to peace


Mr. Haysom urged South Sudan’s leaders to immediately recommit to the 2018 peace deal, respect the ceasefire, release detained officials and resolve disputes through dialogue rather than military confrontation.


He also called for President Kiir and First Vice President Machar to meet and publicly reaffirm their joint commitment to peace.


“The time for action is now because the alternative is too terrible to contemplate.”



WATCH VIDEO: Nicholas Haysom, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for South Sudan speaks to the press via videolink.


View original: Here


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