South Sudan

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan is warning today that a surge in violent clashes in Unity, Jonglei and Central Equatoria States is having a devastating impact on thousands of civilians and on humanitarian agencies.

The Security Council extended until 15 October 2018 a modification to the mandate of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) as laid out in two resolutions from 2011 and 2014, agreeing that it would be the final such extension until the parties took several measurable steps related to the contested border area.

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq commended Kurdistan Region political parties and blocs for signing the Electoral Charter of Honour on 18 April in Erbil.  He said that the Charter is essential to conducting the elections in a free, fair, impartial, transparent and credible manner.

On 11 April 2018, members of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 2206 (2015) concerning South Sudan were briefed by the Panel of Experts on South Sudan in connection with the Panel’s final report, which was submitted in pursuance of paragraph 2 of resolution 2353 (2017).

More than 200 children were released by armed groups in South Sudan, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced today.  They were among a series of arranged releases of almost 1,000 children over the coming months.  About 19,000 children still serve in the ranks of armed forces and groups in the country.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today condemned the killing of three Ecuadorian newspaper staff workers:  Javier Ortega, Paul Rivas and Efrain Segarra.  The three workers, employed by the newspaper El Comercio, were kidnapped on 26 March, near the border between Ecuador and Colombia.

The Security Council decided today to extend for 10 days a set of modifications to the mandate of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), which enabled the Mission to support Government efforts to normalize relations in the contested border region.

Donors in Geneva today pledged $528 million to support the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian aid to millions of people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  The announcements were made at a humanitarian conference in co‑chaired by the United Nations, the European Union and the Netherlands.

A new report by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in cooperation with the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, warns that armed groups in that country, including those affiliated with the State, hold thousands of people in prolonged arbitrary and unlawful detention, submitting them to torture and other rights violations.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Major General Gebre Adhana Woldezgu of Ethiopia as his new Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA).