


Communique of the Peace and Security Council PSC of the African Union AU at its 616th meeting on the situation in South Sudan (11.08.2016)






“A Canadian-owned company may have engaged in some dodgy documentation in order to sell dozens of armoured vehicles to the military in war-torn South Sudan” (The National, 2016)

“In South Sudan, more clashes have broken out between government and opposition forces. This time in the town of Yei, south of Juba, towards the Ugandan border. Supporters of former vice president Riek Machar say they were attacked by fighters loyal to President Salva Kiir. The clashes come a day after the opposition captured the nearby county of Lasu. Local media are reporting more fighting has also broken out in Juba, and the northern and western parts of the country” (CCTV Africa, 2016)
“South Sudan’s ambassador to Uganda Samuel Luate Lominsuk has castigated media reports that President Salva Kiir finally accepted extra foreign troops into his country. This comes in following the IGAD summit that was held over the weekend in Ethiopia’s capital Adis Ababa. Amb. Lominsuk exclusively tells WBS TV that there were three requests that were put forward by IGAD including protection of humanitarian and relief on top of the military corridors by the UN. WBS’ Jocylynne Nakibuule had a one – on – one with the ambassador and now reports” (WBS TV Uganda, 2016).
“The government says the Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces is ready to deploy in South Sudan .The confirmation comes days after the East African regional bloc, IGAD announced that S.Sudan’s President Salva Kiir had agreed to having a regional force stationed in Juba to help quell the upsurge in fighting in the world’s youngest nation.
Meanwhile , the US government has proposed that the UN Security Council approves the deployment of 4000 strong force in the country” (NTV Uganda, 2016)

The Secretary-General welcomes the communique of the Heads of State and Government of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Plus countries.
NEW YORK, United States of America, August 8, 2016 – The Secretary-General welcomes the communique of the Heads of State and Government of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Plus countries. He commends the IGAD leaders for their decisive action and welcomes the Government of South Sudan’s acceptance of a regional protection force. He calls on all South Sudanese leaders to set aside their personal differences and demonstrate their commitment to the implementation of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan, which remains the only viable path to ending the crisis.
The Secretary-General remains deeply concerned about the continued fighting in the country and calls for an immediate end to the hostilities. He is outraged by the continued reports of serious human rights violations and abuses, including widespread sexual violence against women and young girls, committed by armed men in uniform. He calls on all parties to uphold their responsibility to protect civilians and demands that they take immediate steps to hold accountable those responsible for these despicable crimes.
The Secretary-General reiterates his commitment to work with all South Sudanese, IGAD, the African Union and international partners, to implement the recommendations of today’s summit.





5 August 2016 – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today that it is responding to a growing food security emergency causing malnutrition in children in both rural and urban areas of crisis-gripped South Sudan.
“The situation in South Sudan is catastrophic, and even more so for children,” UNICEF spokesperson Christophe Boulierac told a news briefing in Geneva, where he also pointed out that so far this year, the agency has treated 120,000 children under age five for severe malnutrition; a nearly 50 per cent increase over the same period in 2015.
Initially, UNICEF had been planning to provide support to 166,000 children in 2016, but that figure has been revised to more than 250,000, he added.
Seven out of the country’s 10 states have reached the malnutrition-rate-emergency threshold of 15 per cent, while in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, the malnutrition rate stands at 33 per cent, he explained.
UNICEF has also noted a sharp rise in malnutrition in South Sudan’s urban areas, including the capital, Juba, where the rates of children admitted for malnutrition to UNICEF-supported Al-Sabbah children’s hospitals were some 20 per cent higher in the first six months of 2016 than for the same period last year. The spokesperson cited the country’s inflation rate as one of the main reasons for the high increase, explaining that it made basic household staples too expensive for many families.
Mr. Boulierac stated that while UNICEF could not provide figures of children dying from starvation, “one quarter of a million children in South Sudan are facing severe malnutrition.”
According to the spokesperson, with a number of roads inaccessible, the ongoing conflict has further limited UNICEF’s ability to respond – leaving, in the most urgent cases, the more expensive option of air transport for delivering supplies.
Additionally, Mr. Boulierac stressed that “due to insecurity and the rainy season, UNICEF staff in South Sudan are unable to be fully mobile and deliver their goods and services.”
Mr. Boulierac said that of the $154.5 million UNICEF needs for South Sudan in 2016, the Fund had, to date, received only $52 million to assist with water and sanitation; child support services; nutrition; health; and education.
He indicated that more than 900,000 children have been displaced in the country, which – with 1.8 million children, or 51 per cent of school-age youngsters out of school – also had the highest proportion of out-of-school children in the world.
“An estimated 16,000 children had been recruited by armed groups, and there were concerns that the renewed violence would lead to a further expansion of that practice,” explained the spokesperson.
He also called attention to the fact that sexual violence and rape had been used as a weapon of war, saying “all the ingredients were there to be extremely concerned.”
Between 8 and 25 July, at least 72 civilian deaths and 217 cases of sexual violence had been documented in Juba alone.
The spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), William Spindler, added that the total number of South Sudanese refugees in the region stood at 917,418 – most of whom are sheltering in Uganda.
The recent fighting in South Sudan between rival forces – the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) loyal to President Salva Kiir and the SPLA in Opposition backing First Vice-President Riek Machar – erupted in and around Juba, on 7 July, close to the fifth anniversary of its independence.
The young country has faced ongoing challenges since a political face-off between the two leaders erupted into conflict in December 2013. The crisis has produced one of the world’s worst displacement situations with immense suffering for civilians.