More peacekeepers requested

UN Security Council considers nearly doubling force in S. Sudan

UN chief Ban Ki-moon asked the UN Security Council on Monday to send 5,500 more peacekeepers to South Sudan to better protect civilians from violence that threatens to plunge the world's youngest country into civil war.

Ban made the recommendation for the increase in the size of the force in a letter to the council, in which he also called for 423 more police officers. There are currently some 6,700 UN troops and 670 police officers in the UN force in South Sudan, which is known as UNMISS.

Beijing said on Tuesday that some Chinese who had been in South Sudan had safely left the country.

"The Chinese embassy in South Sudan, as well as embassies and consulates in neighboring countries and cities where related flights will stop for transit, have offered assistance in consulting services, customs procedures, coordination and resettlement," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily news conference.

The Security Council met on Monday to discuss the situation in the oil-producing nation and is likely to adopt a resolution approving the increase in peacekeepers on Tuesday, council diplomats said.

"The situation is obviously urgent and the Security Council will respond urgently. If it's necessary to take decisions, then we will take decisions by tomorrow," said British UN Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant.

Diplomats said US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power distributed the draft resolution to the council, adding that Power said she hoped it would be adopted by noon on Tuesday.

Ban said the additional troops would be drawn from nearby UN and African Union missions, such as those in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Sudanese regions of Darfur and Abyei, and Liberia.

He said five infantry battalions, three attack helicopters, three utility helicopters, one C130 military transport aircraft and three police units should be transferred to South Sudan.

"I would be grateful if the Security Council would approve the transfer of the relevant personnel and assets to UNMISS on an urgent basis in order to help ensure the protection of civilians and the protection of United Nations personnel and assets," Ban said.

He said the UN was obtaining the consent of the countries that would contribute troops and police and coordinating with the "peacekeeping operations concerned to ensure that the timing and duration of this proposed temporary re-deployment does not prejudice the implementation of their respective mandates".

Riek Machar, the former vice-president who is leading a rebellion against the government, said on Monday he was ready for dialogue to end the conflict but said President Salva Kiir must first release his detained political allies.

Kiir's government last week announced the arrest of 10 people, many of them former ministers, in connection with its investigation of an alleged coup attempt led by Machar.

Machar said he had spoken on Monday to Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom, leader of a team of African mediators trying to end more than a week of fighting that has killed hundreds of people and driven thousands from their homes.

Kiir told the US special envoy to the country on Monday that he is ready for talks with Machar "without preconditions" to end the violence there.

Ban told reporters earlier on Monday that some 45,000 civilians were seeking protection at UN bases in South Sudan.

"The world is watching all sides in South Sudan. Attacks on civilians and the UN peacekeepers deployed to protect them must cease."

AFP-Reuters-China Daily

(China Daily 12/25/2013 page12)