NAIROBI (Halbeeg News) – Somalia and Djibouti will deploy troops to South Sudan as guarantors, Regional Bloc said Monday.
In a statement, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) said the member states approved that troops from Somalia and Djibouti to be part of the guarantors in the youngest African nation.
The bloc said the troops from both countries will safeguard the security and the implementation of the peace agreement.
According to the statement, the endorsement was made during the Igad Extra-Ordinary Summit held in Addis Ababa last week.
“IGAD shall request the UN Security Council to review its mandate on deployment of regional protection force to South Sudan and allow Sudan, Uganda, Djibouti and Somalia as guarantors, to contribute forces to enhance the protection and security,” the statement reads in part, “The Summit resolves that Igad shall engage the UN Security Council to ensure that the Regional Protection Force (RPF) is fully deployed to execute its mandate in accordance with the UNSC Resolutions 2304/16 and 2406/18.”
It further stated that the regional bloc was committed to stand in solidarity with the people of South Sudan and their leaders in their endeavour to attain peace, stability, and economic progress.
The move comes barely five days after the warring factions in the South Sudan conflict signed a peace agreement.
The new peace deal immediately ends any further bloodshed and all forms of hostility between the infighting groups.
Riek Machar, leader of the main rebel group the SPLM-IO, and other insurgent factions signed the new agreement with the Juba government led by President Salva Kiir after assurances that a power-sharing accord would be honored.
The crisis in South Sudan started over a year on December 15, 2013, when former Vice President Dr. Riek Machar left the government in a huff when President Salva Kiir accused him of plotting a coup to seize power.
The civil war had killed at least 50,000 people, displaced two million and held up the country’s progress since it gained independence seven years ago.
Discussion about this post