Hilde F. Johnson Special Representative of UN Secretary- General and Head of United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS)
01 January, 2014Hilde F. Johnson Special Representative of UN Secretary- General and Head of United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS)
Press Conference on South Sudan – Wednesday 1 January, 2014
Opening Remarks
SRSG HILDE F. JOHNSON: Thank you on this first day of the New Year 2014, I want to remind us all of the past. On 5-6 December almost 800 businessmen and women from all over the world convened in Juba, for a major Investment conference. There was huge interest, a lot of enthusiasm, and I think everyone present felt that now things are moving in the right direction for South Sudan.
Just 10 days after, the country was thrown into peril with a situation where political struggle took a violent turn and then spilled over into the communities. Today on this first day of the New Year, we would have and should have, looked back at 2013 with satisfaction and with content. But we are not. It has been a tough year overall for South Sudan, but the past two weeks have been devastating for the country.
What has happened since December 15 is a tragedy. These two weeks have brought back the nightmares of the past, for so many South Sudanese citizens, who have revisited feelings they had thought they had buried a long time ago.
We have seen people fleeing for their lives, other people being killed and thousands and thousands having their lives and livelihoods uprooted.
So what started as a political struggle, then permeated into major incidences of violence. There also forces who have exploited this situation where members of one community have been pitched against the other, whether here or there. Those who have done that have a lot to answer for.
This is where we are on January 1 2014. The country is at a cross roads, it’s at the fork in the road. But it can still be saved from further major escalations of violence.
It is up to the leaders of this country and the two parties. Both President Salva Kiir Mayardit and former Vice President Riek Machar who is leading the forces against the government have both said to me and to others that they want to talk, to have a dialogue and to give peace a chance. They still can pull the country back from the brink.
The leaders of the region, IGAD the regional organization, neighboring countries have been engaged as we know, in active efforts to bring the two parties to the table. So have many many leaders of the world, and many of us have engaged. I am pleased to say that today both parties are sending delegations to Addis Ababa. The Foreign Minister of Ethiopia, to whom I have just spoken to on the phone, told me they are expected to arrive this afternoon.
The IGAD-leaders as we know have called for a cessation of hostilities, the release of political detainees, political dialogue and humanitarian access. Those four demands were put on the table squarely in the Communique of Friday past.
We on our part in the United Nations have joined hands with them in calling for the same.
Now, when the two parties are coming we expect delivery on these critical demands of IGAD. We urge that the fighting stops immediately.
We call for both parties to use this first day of the New Year to take a decisive step for peace. To cease all hostilities from today, and to mark the beginning of the New Year 2014 as the day the fighting stopped. We want to make this day, the day that the fighting stopped.
But as we know, and this is my second point, violence may still continue in its own way, because we have seen terrible acts of violence in the past two weeks. There have been killings and brutality, grave human rights violations and atrocities committed. We have seen evidence of apparent targeting of South Sudanese citizens on ethnic grounds.
This can lead to a perpetual cycle of violence that can destroy the fabric of the new nation. We need to do everything possible to prevent such a cycle of violence between the communities of South Sudan.
I condemn in the strongest possible terms the atrocities committed against innocent civilians of different communities by elements from both sides who have exploited this crisis. There is no excuse for these terrible acts of violence. All perpetrators must be held accountable.
And we know that if no one is held accountable there is a major risk that the violence continues.
I have issued a statement on this issue yesterday and it is in the package for you. So for violence to stop accountability must happen.
That is also why I welcome the decision of the African Union’s Peace and Security Council they met at the Heads of State level, on the South Sudanese crisis on Monday and they decided to establish a Commission under the AU to investigate the human rights violations and other abuses committed, and make recommendations on ways and means to ensure accountability, reconciliation and healing among all South Sudanese communities.
Accountability is also critical for reconciliation to happen so that trust can be rebuilt between communities; and where trust has been broken healing and reconciliation needs to happen for the country and communities to move towards peaceful relations.
Peace is also only possible when it is accompanied by reconciliation and healing.
The negotiations in Addis are at a political level and as we have said before, this is a political struggle that can only be resolved politically, through the negotiations at the negotiating table.
But the negotiations in Addis need to be accompanied also by something else – by a deeper process that focuses on national reconciliation, and reconciliation between the communities.
Deep rooted tensions and wounds of the past have actually made the situation worse. And we have seen that the violence that happened in the last two weeks have exacerbated already deep rooted tensions. These wounds, these tensions, and what has happened in the past two weeks, these feelings need to be healed.
As the political process starts we need to see also very soon a process of reconciliation happen.
But first the fighting has to stop and the political talks have to proceed then we will be in a position to move forward in support of such a process.
This of course is again a decision of the leaders of this country, and it is in their hands to start such a process.
At the same time UNMISS will continue to protect civilians. The scale of the crisis has challenged an already overstretched Mission. We now have approximately 68, 000 people that have sought refuge in our camps. And they are in 13 different locations all over the country or in the three major states first and foremost.
The numbers fluctuate, so we have been up to 75,000, and in some places people are returning and in other places people come in, so they go back and forth.
It is very clear to us we must not only protect civilians in our compounds and in our camps, we must be also able to protect them out there where they are at risk. That is why we are getting reinforcements from other countries, both with additional police and with additional forces.
This is essential because at this point in time, all capacity is now concentrated on protecting the camps, the security of them as well as internal, and as well as external.
We have also taken decisions to move most of our contingents into the concerned areas, so virtually all peacekeepers in South Sudan now under the United Nations are surrounding or in the relation to the camps, and working to protect the camps internally and externally.
We are at OCHA the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator’s Office. I want to assure you all our humanitarian colleagues have been working around the clock to assist in this crisis.
And they are also providing assistance to the more than 180,000 displaced nationwide. I want to underline that this is not only therefore people in camps, significant efforts are made to protect and help and provide assistance to internally displaced elsewhere in the country.
There are very many IDPs out there that are now being assisted, and I want to mention in particular Awerial, which is a location south of Bor.
There are thousands and thousands of IDPs, there has been missions flying in yesterday and today. We believe the numbers might be as high at 60,000 but we need to register first and see.
The humanitarian coordination is in charge of this with humanitarian partners, Toby Lanzer, and as far as his information comes, food distributions have already started.
Totally US$166 million are needed immediately for immediate response to be able to assist the internally displaced in relation to the crisis.
We urge all donors to come forward and assist because the conditions of the IDPs are not good, they are in desperate need for help on all fronts. Water, shelter, sanitation food, health services—a significant effort needs to be made to assist them.
The UN stands together with all the people of South Sudan on this very day and the leaders of this country have a historic responsibility to the future and people of this young and new nation.
We hope today marks the beginning of a peaceful era for South Sudan and that this New Year can become a happy new year.
So my new year’s greetings to you and the people of South Sudan, let us all hope and pray that this is a year of peace. And the babies that were born in the camps, the past two weeks, and there are very many, that on their first birthday, their one year birthday, they will look back at 2014 that actually on January 1, 2014 that is when we turned a new page and that this has been peaceful year for the country.
Thank you to all.
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