South Sudan: US Secretary Of State Urges Deployment Of Protection Force

US Secretary of State, John Kerry, is currently on tour in Kenya, and after meeting with five regional foreign ministers, Kerry has said that a ‘protection force’ needs to be deployed to the volatile South Sudan area. 

Kerry was speaking at a meeting in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. 

Fighting has erupted once again in South Sudan over the past month and a half. The country’s capital of Juba has been the most affected by the fighting. 

Kerry’s ‘protection force’ is a security force consisting of around 4000 troops that will be sent to the country to aid the other security forces who are currently trying to keep peace in the country. 

Both Ethiopia as well as have offered to provide troops for a new force, as well as Kenya. 

The UN has also already deployed 12 000 troops to the area as part of their official UN Mission in South Sudan. Kerry’s additional 4000 troops will join these 12 000 UN troops.

“…There is absolutely no question that we need to move forward with the deployment of the regional protection force authorised by the UN Security Council,” Kerry said.

He continued saying that the new ‘protection force’ is not intended to intervene, but merely protect and to try to bring peace to the country once more:

“…This is not an intervention force, it is a protection force, with a very clear mandate to protect people, to ensure access, freedom of movement and to be free from ambush or attack of any sort,” he said.