A3+ statement delivered by H.E. Pedro Comissário, Permanent Representative of Mozambique at the Security Council Briefing on the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS)

Mr. President,

I have the honour to deliver this joint statement on behalf of the A3+, namely Algeria, Guyana, Sierra Leone and my own country, Mozambique.

We wish to express our profound appreciation to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head UNMISS, Mr. Nicholas Haysom, for his excellent update on the situation in South Sudan and the activities of UNMISS. We commend his efforts and those of his team aimed at consolidating peace, stability and development in South Sudan.

We welcome the participation of the Representative of South Sudan in this meeting.

Mr. President,

We take note that the last few months have witnessed some progress in the implementation of the Revitalized Agreement in South Sudan.

Measures have been adopted to operationalize key institutions, such as the National Constitutional Review Commission, National Election Commission and the Political Parties Council. There was a clear effort to achieve the 35 per cent requirement of women representation.

These steps are a strong expression of the commitment of the South Sudanese authorities to the Agreement and to the creation of the necessary conditions for holding elections in December 2024.

Despite the slow progress, we welcome the continuation of the deployment of the Necessary Unified Forces, a critical component for the completion of the transitional security arrangements.

We do recognise that much more needs to be done in order to implement the roadmap of August 2022, to achieve the key benchmarks agreed upon by the parties, in September 2018.

In this context, we call on the South Sudanese stakeholders to honour their commitments and expedite the implementation of the Revitalised Agreement. We encourage the parties to constructively engage and agree on the specifics of the necessary pre-election preparations needed, with practical and realistic steps, to hold the elections as scheduled. This includes ensuring funding for the key institutions charged with preparing for the polls.

We also call upon the non-signatory actors to choose the path of peace and engage, in good faith in a genuine, responsible and constructive dialogue with the Government of South Sudan.

We appeal to the international community to continue its support for the South Sudanese efforts in pursuing its democratic endeavours. In this vein, we welcome the ministerial meeting of the members of the AU C5, that decided to conduct a Ministerial visit to South Sudan. They reaffirmed the C5 unwavering support to facilitate the successful implementation of the Revitalized Agreement.

Mr. President,

While we are focused on the preparations for elections, we must bear in mind that South Sudan is currently home to more than 500 thousand returnees and refugees, due to the conflict in the Sudan. This situation is already creating tension and straining diminishing resources within the host communities.

Moreover, we must be mindful of the fact that South Sudan is cyclically affected by climate induced shocks. This increases competition for access to resources and the fuelling of the intercommunal violence in some regions. In the Abyei region, for example, reported recent attacks have resulted in deaths, injuries and destruction of property of innocent people.

It is important to bear in mind that this is happening against the backdrop of an already dire humanitarian crisis, which significantly impacts the well-being of the people of this new nation and compromise their future.

We, therefore, reiterate our call for an increased humanitarian assistance to South Sudan, to alleviate the suffering of the most vulnerable people.

In this context, development partners, including the World Bank, the UNDP and donor countries, are encouraged to maintain and scale up their support to the Government of South Sudan, to address the spiraling downturn in the country’s economy, during this critical phase of the transitional period.

Mr. President,

While acknowledging the need for this Council to reflect on the scope of the UNMISS mandate, we highly commend this UN mission for its efforts in implementing its mandate, in particular, in supporting the implementation of the Revitalized Agreement, protection of civilians, mitigation of violence and support to humanitarian assistance, despite the challenging environment in South Sudan.

Similarly, we encourage UNMISS to strengthen its technical assistance to the South Sudanese authorities, particularly in the control and management of small arms, light weapons and ammunition, taking into account the implications that the arms embargo could have on the completion of the transitional security arrangements.

In concluding, Mr. President, the A3+ would like to express its profound gratitude to the Troop and Police Contributing Countries, for their ultimate sacrifice in support of the peace and stability of South Sudan.

We hope that these commendable efforts continue to pave the way for a lasting peace in South Sudan.

I thank you, Mr. President!