A civil society activist has appealed to the United States of America to reverse its decision to withdraw troops from the peacekeeping mission in the country.
Edmund Yakani, Executive Director for the Community Empowerment for Progress Organisation (CEPO), said such a decision would severely impact the peace agreement in South Sudan.
This call came after reports indicated that the US temporarily withdrew its personnel from UNMISS and intend to reduce peace funding.
Yakni implored the US government to reconsider its stance for the sake of humanity and to ensure lasting peace in South Sudan.
“I would like to appeal to the new Administration of United States that there is a need to humbly reverse the idea of withdrawing from United Nation Peace Keeping mission South Sudan and cutting down peace funding, we know it is not a right for us to call for we know it is the interest and the will of the people of United States and their government to support.”
The activist added that diplomatic misunderstandings between countries could negatively affect the citizens of both nations.
Yakani stressed that the United States, as a long-standing global friend to South Sudan, should maintain its support for the country.
“My appeal is that the friendship between the people of South Sudan and the people of the United States should not be affected by the political disagreements between Juba and Washington D.C.,” he explained.
He reiterated that the function of the UN agencies, with contributions from the United States, reflects a shared sense of humanity.
“We may be seen far by geography distribution of our states or our countries where South Sudan may be far from where United States is but humanity connect and the only thing globally, we can feel that humanity is in existence and humanity connect the function of UN Agencies as an instrument with global responsibility to protect to share, to work together, to collaborate to maintain Humanity and solidarity,” he explained.
Recent reports indicate that the United States has already withdrawn a group of peacekeepers from the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
On April 6th, a group of military staff officers from the United States of America serving with UNMISS were reportedly temporarily withdrawn from Juba at the request of U.S. authorities, as stated by online media outlets.
These U.S. personnel served as staff officers within UNMISS’ military component, supporting mission planning, operations, and logistics, according to a U.N. spokesperson in New York.
