Saturday 04 / May / 2024
Shanghai/United Nations: China's defence ministry has rejected as "malicious speculation" allegations by a US-based group that Chinese peacekeepers had abandoned their posts in South Sudan in July instead of protecting civilians.
Chinese troops are part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, which has been ravaged by conflict between rival forces loyal to the President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar.
The Center For Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) said in a report published last week that Chinese peacekeepers with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) had withdrawn from a civilian protection zone in July after coming under attack.
The CIVIC report said the Chinese peacekeepers abandoned their posts in the South Sudanese capital of Juba on July 11, a day after a rocket-propelled grenade had exploded near a Chinese armoured personnel carrier, killing two Chinese soldiers.
Yang Yujun, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Defence, said in comments published on the ministry's official website (http://www.mod.gov.cn) that the report was "malicious speculation".
He said China's peacekeeping forces carried out the instructions of the UN mission in a responsible manner and did its utmost to guarantee the safety of civilians and other peacekeepers.
"Chinese peacekeeping officers and soldiers remained at their posts, quickly organising reinforcements and continuing to implement the mandate of UNMISS while rescuing wounded soldiers," Yang said.
"Currently, the United Nations is investigating the performance of the United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Sudan, and making unwarranted accusations against UN peacekeepers and personnel before the findings have been published is irresponsible," he said.
Meanwhile, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said on Monday. that a pledge by South Sudan's government to allow the deployment of more UN peacekeepers and to improve access for UN troops already on the ground in a bid to avoid an arms embargo is yet to translate into action.
President Salva Kiir agreed during a UN Security Council visit to South Sudan last month to accept 4,000 extra peacekeepers and to allow some 12,000 peacekeepers already on the ground to move around freely in order to protect civilians.
In an August resolution - after heavy fighting in July in the capital, Juba - the 15-member council had threatened to consider a possible arms embargo within five days of a report by Ban that Kiir's government was not fulfilling both measures.
In a letter to the council on Monday, seen by Reuters, Ban said "while the public commitments and relative improvements... are a welcome sign, it will take some time to evaluate whether these commitments translate into improved freedom of movement on the ground or amount to business as usual."
It was not immediately clear if Ban's letter would trigger a consideration by the council of an arms embargo on South Sudan.
Political rivalry between Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and his former deputy Riek Machar, a Nuer, sparked a civil war in 2013 that has often followed ethnic lines. The pair signed a shaky peace deal a year ago, but fighting has continued and Machar fled the country after the July violence. He is now in Khartoum.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011.
Ban said that, while the deployment of more peacekeepers and the improvement of access for UN troops and aid workers already on the ground "would help alleviate some of the suffering of the people of South Sudan, they will not resolve the conflict."
He said the war was "a direct result of serious shortcomings in governance and the instrumentalization of ethnicity to further political objectives" and expressed concern about a recent call to arms by Machar.
Ban said Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda had agreed to provide peacekeepers for the 4,000-strong regional protection force, charged with enforcing peace in Juba and protecting the airport and other key facilities, but that the South Sudanese government had not yet given its approval.
Ban said a note verbale had been sent to the South Sudanese mission to the United Nations in New York, naming the troop-contributing countries and stating that, if a response was not received from Kiir's government by September 26, the United Nations would begin preparing the deployment.
However, the South Sudanese government said it never received the note verbale from its mission and that "the lack of a response could therefore not be considered as consenting to the deployment of the aforementioned troops."
