S Sudan may accept more peacekeepers

South Sudan says it will accept an additional contingent of UN peacekeeping troops if Juba can negotiate the number, mandate, weapons and the contributing countries to the force.

South Sudan’s presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny made the comments on Saturday, saying “the door is open” for the UN troops. The official did not say whether the government has withdrawn its objection to the coming forces, adding that neighboring Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya could not contribute to the additional contingent.

On Friday, the UN Security Council approved to deploy a 4,000-strong protection force to the conflict-ridden country, despite Juba’s strong opposition, authorizing them to exert “all necessary means” to protect the UN personnel and installations there.

The UN resolution also calls for an arms embargo on South Sudan if the government blocks the regional force. There will be a total of 17,500 soldiers in South Sudan after the new deployment from a number of African countries.

South Sudan’s government had earlier rejected more UN peacekeeping forces in the country, saying the move would give the UN the ability to govern and allow peacekeepers to “engage in combat.”

The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has been criticized during the past few weeks both for its inability to fully protect civilians when UN sites came under attack in the capital Juba last month, and for allegedly failing to intervene in cases that government forces reportedly committed sexual assaults outside UN camps in the city.

South Sudan has witnessed a new wave of conflict since July 8, when gunfire erupted near the state house in Juba, where President Salva Kiir and then Vice President Riek Machar were meeting for talks. More than 300 people have been killed in the clashes.