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The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is a United Nations
peacekeeping Peacekeeping comprises activities intended to create conditions that favour lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed warfare. Within the United ...
mission for
South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of th ...
, which became independent on 9 July 2011. UNMISS was established on 8 July 2011 by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1996 (2011). Since December 2016, UNMISS has been led by the Secretary-General's Special Representative, South African lawyer and diplomat Nicholas Haysom. Haysom succeeded
David Shearer David James Shearer (born 28 July 1957) is a New Zealand United Nations worker and politician. He was a member of the New Zealand Parliament for the Labour Party from 2009 to 2016, serving as Leader of the Opposition from 2011 to 2013. Shear ...
in January 2021. , it is composed of 14,222 military personnel, 1,446 police, and 2,228 civilian workers, as well as small contingents of experts, staff officers, and volunteers. The military deployment is commanded by the Indian Lieutenant General Shailesh Tinaikar. It is headquartered in the South Sudanese capital of
Juba Juba () is the capital and largest city of South Sudan. The city is situated on the White Nile and also serves as the capital of the Central Equatoria State. It is the world's newest capital city to be elevated as such, and had a population ...
.


Mandate

The stated UNMISS Mandate includes: *Support for peace consolidation and thereby fostering longer-term statebuilding and economic development *Support the Government of the Republic of South Sudan in exercising its responsibilities for conflict prevention, mitigation and resolution and protect civilians *Support the Government of the Republic of South Sudan in developing its capacity to provide security, to establish rule of law, and to strengthen the security and justice sectors. The mission was established by Security Council Resolution 1996 and extended to 15 July 2013 by Resolution 2057. As per
Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter sets out the UN Security Council's powers to maintain peace. It allows the Council to "determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression" and to take military an ...
, the peacekeeping mission is concerned with the protection of civilians, and thus is not mandated to engage in protection of South Sudan's territory or the sovereignty of that territory (cf. the 2012 South Sudan–Sudan border war).


Leadership

*Special Representative and Head of UNMISS: Nicholas Haysom (
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
) *Deputy Special Representative (Political) and Deputy Head of UNMISS: Guang Cong (
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
) *Deputy Special Representative (Humanitarian), Resident Coordinator, and Humanitarian Coordinator: Sara Beysolow Nyanti (
Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast� ...
) *Force Commander of UNMISS: Lieutenant General Mohan Subramanian (
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
) *Deputy Force Commander: Major General Main Ullah Chowdhury (
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...
) *Police Commissioner : Christine Fossen (
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...
) *Deputy Police Commissioner : Mutasem Almajali (
Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
) Force Commanders


Composition

UN Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...
resolution 2132 (24 December 2013) authorised a military component of up to 12,500 troops, and a police component of up to 1,323.
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
has supplied 2,237 troops; the Deputy Force Commander is India's Brigadier General Asit Mistry, while the force commander is Ghana's Major General Delali Johnson Sakyi. Other contributors of troops are Australia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Fiji, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, Mongolia, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Timor-Leste, Togo, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, United States, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Police have been contributed by Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, China, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, Gabon, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, India, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Panama, Philippines, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Samoa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United States, Zambia and Zimbabwe.


History


2012

In a July 2012 speech, a day after the extension of the mission, Hilde F. Johnson spoke in Juba about the progress of UNMISS. Johnson discussed the mission's protection of civilians and the documenting and verification of incidents. Johnson discussed the January 2012
Lou Nuer The Nuer people are a Nilotic ethnic group concentrated in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan. They also live in the Ethiopian region of Gambella. The Nuer speak the Nuer language, which belongs to the Nilotic language family. T ...
attacks in Jonglei State whereby the actions of UNMISS in deploying peacekeepers and alerting the South Sudanese government resulted in "thousands of civilian lives eingsaved", as well as progress in areas such as policing, justice and democracy. On 21 December 2012, a civilian UNMISS
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...
was shot down over Jonglei State. Five people, including four Russian crewmembers, on board the aircraft were killed.


2013

On 9 April, five
Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...
UNMISS troops and seven civilian UN employees (two UN staff and five contractors) were killed in a rebel ambush in Jonglei while escorting a UN convoy between
Pibor Pibor, also called Pibor Post, is a town in South Sudan. Location Pibor located in Pibor County, in Pibor Administrative Area, in eastern South Sudan, near the border with Ethiopia. It lies approximately , by road, northeast of Juba, the capita ...
and Bor. Nine further UN employees, both military and civilian, were wounded and some remain missing. Four of the civilians killed were Kenyan contractors working to drill water boreholes. One of the dead soldiers was a lieutenant-colonel and one of the wounded was a captain. According to South Sudan's military spokesman, the convoy was attacked by
David Yau Yau David Yau Yau was a Governor of Boma State and the Chief Administrator of the Greater Pibor Administrative Area of South Sudan. He was previously the leader of a Murle insurrection against the South Sudanese government. Early life and education ...
's rebel forces that they believe are supported by the Sudanese government. UNMISS said that 200 armed men were involved in the attack and that their convoy was escorted by 32 Indian UN peacekeepers. The attackers were equipped with rocket propelled grenades. A UN spokesman said that the fierce resistance put up by Indian peacekeepers forced the rebels to withdraw and saved the lives of many of the civilians. UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Ministe ...
called the killings a war crime, and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. United Nations Assistant Secretary-General
Anthony Banbury Anthony Banbury (born 1964) was appointed the President and Chief Executive Officer of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) in 2018. He served as United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Field Support until 5 February 20 ...
praised the bravery of the Indian soldiers. India's Prime Minister,
Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (; born 26 September 1932) is an Indian politician, economist and statesman who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is also the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indir ...
, paid his tribute to the "brave soldiers". About 2,200
Indian Army The Indian Army is the Land warfare, land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Arm ...
personnel are deployed in South Sudan as a part of the UNMISS mission.


Coup d'état attempt

Fighting that spread as a result of the
2013 South Sudanese coup d'état attempt The South Sudanese Civil War was a multi-sided civil war in South Sudan between forces of the government and opposition forces. In December 2013, President Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar and ten others of attempting a coup d'éta ...
led to the deaths of two Indian peacekeepers, while another soldier was wounded in Akobo, Jonglei, on 19 December. On 24 December, the UNSC voted to nearly double the existing 7,600 troops in the mission, with another approximately 6,000 troops to be added. The UN Secretary General expressed deep concern as UN staff received threats from the body guards of Senior government Information Minister that demanded armed access to UN Mission Camps where civilians are sheltering. Following this incident President Salva Kiir accused the UN of sheltering armed opposition forces in their UN Mission, which the UN denied. Salva Kiir also accused the UN of an attempted take over of his leadership.


2014

On Thursday 17 April 2014, 58 people were killed and at least 100 people wounded when an armed mob stormed the UN base in Bor. A crowd of people who pretended they were visiting the base to present a peaceful petition opened fire on some of the 5,000 civilians who had taken shelter in the UN base. Of those killed, 48 were civilians, while 10 were among the attackers. The violence reflected tension between the ethnic
Dinka The Dinka people ( din, Jiɛ̈ɛ̈ŋ) are a Nilotic ethnic group native to South Sudan with a sizable diaspora population abroad. The Dinka mostly live along the Nile, from Jonglei to Renk, in the region of Bahr el Ghazal, Upper Nile (two out ...
and Nuer peoples; before the attack, a crowd of local Dinkas had demanded the thousands of Nuer sheltering in the camp be relocated elsewhere. UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Ministe ...
emphasised that any attack on UN peacekeepers constituted "a war crime". The
UN Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...
expressed "outrage" at the attack, saying:
The members of the Security Council expressed their outrage at the recent attacks by armed groups in South Sudan that have purposefully targeted civilians as well as UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) sites and personnel, in particular 17 April attack against the UNMISS compound in Bor that resulted in scores of dead and injured, including those seeking the shelter and protection of the United Nations, and 14 April attacks in Bentiu and Unity State. The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms these acts and underscored that attacks on civilians and UN peacekeepers may constitute a war crime.
In June 2014, Vietnam participated in UNMISS as their first official peacekeeping mission by sending officers from the
Vietnam People's Army Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
.


2015

As part of its mandate to conduct human rights reporting, UNMISS released a report in mid-2015 on an alleged campaign of violence by the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and associated armed groups in Unity State. The report cited witness accounts of abductions, rapes and people being killed and burned alive in dwellings. UNMISS continued to struggle to cope with the large populations of internally displaced people living within the 'Protection of Civilians' (PoC) sites in 2015. The mission was accused in May 2015 of failing to secure the perimeter of the Bentiu PoC site during an expansion of the site led by the International Organisation for Migration.


2016

Ban Ki-moon requested an independent investigation of the deployment be made following reports that on 11 July South Sudanese troops rampaged through the capital, killing and raping civilians and foreign aid workers. The event had occurred following three days of fighting between troops loyal to President
Salva Kiir Salva (Latin for "Save") may refer to: People * Francisco Salva Campillo (1751-1828), Spanish scientist *Ramon d'Salva (born 1921), Filipino actor * Héctor Salva (1939-2015), Uruguayan football midfielder * Salva Kiir Mayardit (born 1951), South ...
and soldiers aligned with former Vice President
Riek Machar Dr. Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon (born 26 November 1952) is a South Sudanese politician who serves as the First Vice President of South Sudan. Political life In February 2020, Machar was re-sworn in as first vice president following a revitalised ...
that resulted in the deaths of 300 civilians and two UN peacekeepers. Led by
Patrick Cammaert Major General Patrick Cammaert (, born April 11, 1950, Nijmegen) is a retired
, the investigation found that the force suffered from disorganization and a lack of leadership. Ban Ki-moon requested on 1 November that Lieutenant General Johnson Mogoa Kimani Ondieki, the Kenyan force commander, be replaced as soon as possible. The next day the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the United Nations of using Ondieki as a scapegoat and announced that it would be withdrawing all of its forces from South Sudan. Head of UNMISS, Ellen Margrethe Løj, completed her assignment in November 2016 and was replaced by
David Shearer David James Shearer (born 28 July 1957) is a New Zealand United Nations worker and politician. He was a member of the New Zealand Parliament for the Labour Party from 2009 to 2016, serving as Leader of the Opposition from 2011 to 2013. Shear ...
. In 2016, the United Kingdom began Operation Trenton, a deployment of over 300 personnel to support UNMISS. It concluded in 2020.


2017

Japanese peacekeepers left South Sudan, ending five years of their mandate under UNMISS. The withdrawals were done in April 2017, followed by two withdrawals in May with Chief Cabinet Suga denying that it was made due to security matters. Their deployment was a part of the Abe government's efforts to promote new laws for Japanese peacekeepers to easily intervene, such as assisting fellow peacekeepers and civilians working under UNMISS mandate. The Japanese MOD is accusing of covering up the security situation in Juba. In December 2017, the mission closed down the first Protection of Civilian site (PoC) in Melut town after IDPs voluntarily requested to return home.


2021

On 15 January 2021, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced Haysom's appointment as his Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan ( UNMISS).


Criticism and Alternative International Interventions

As stated, the UNMISS is present in the country since its independence in 2011. However, as demonstrated throughout the mission's
history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
, there were numerous incidents that point towards an inability of the peacekeeping forces to protect civilians. In general, scholars such as Weinstein question the effectiveness of peacekeeping missions, and it is not difficult to find a peacekeeping "fiasco" among the numerous peacekeeping missions undertaken within the history of the United Nations. While it is impossible to establish a counterfactual for the assessment and evaluation of peacekeeping missions and their effectiveness, – i.e. we do not know how the situation in South Sudan would look like, if the UN would not have deployed peacekeeping forces, – an article published in the New York Times has called for an alternative international intervention for South Sudan. Thereby, the alternatives for international interventions are numerous. The article mentions trusteeship as a potential solution to the violent chaos in South Sudan. This form of international intervention was prominently discussed by Fearon and Laitin. The authors thereby suggest a system of neo-trusteeship, in which peacekeeping efforts should be oriented towards state building under the coordination of a leading (outside) state. This state building should encompass the establishment of institutions that are necessary for increasing South Sudan's capability for collecting taxes, which could increase the governance capacity of the country. To avoid that South Sudan breaks into war again, according to Fearon and Laitin's neo-trusteeship approach, a continuous international monitoring and support system might be required. However, the New York Times article mentions that some South Sudanese would not tolerate such an international trusteeship and might see it as an intrusion into their hard-won independence. Furthermore, as pointed out by Weinstein, neo-trusteeship is a post-conflict international intervention. As South Sudan is still in the midst of a bloody conflict, Weinstein would suggest refraining from any kind of international intervention and leaving the South Sudanese to solve their conflict autonomously ("autonomous recovery"), usually through the victory of one of the conflict parties over the other.


References


External links


United Nations Mission in South SudanUnited Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan
at the UN {{Portal bar, Politics 2011 in South Sudan 2012 in South Sudan 2013 in South Sudan 2014 in South Sudan Politics of South Sudan Political organisations based in South Sudan United Nations operations in Africa United Nations Security Council mandates Military operations involving India Pakistan military presence in other countries South Sudan and the United Nations South Sudanese Civil War