After tough negotiations, the UN has extended a peacekeeping mandate in the world's youngest nation. Despite criticism from Russia and China, the resolution has provided tools to prevent escalations, including sanctions.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/G. Farran
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The UN Security Council on Friday passed a draft resolution effectively bolstering the peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, the world's youngest nation.
The mission will include a new regional force of 4,000 troops, which the council approved in August but which has yet to manifest itself. The new force will support approximately 13,000 peacekeepers that have been deployed to the country, according to the resolution.
The resolution also threatens sanctions against those who undermine stability, warning that the council will take "appropriate measures."
The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, described the measure as an "upgrade" of the current mission, which has been criticized for failing to protect civilians since the conflict erupted in 2013.
'Kill, rape and displace'
Ahead of the UN vote, human rights organizations called on the UN to do more to protect civilians, citing reports of government soldiers raping women near peacekeeping compounds.
"Despite the August 2015 peace agreement, the warring parties continue to kill, rape and displace communities with impunity. Many of these acts constitute war crimes. They may amount to crimes against humanity," New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
However, South Sudan's ambassador to the UN, Joseph Mourn Majak Ngor Malok, said Juba was disappointed that its concerns had not been highlighted, adding that the new mandate was nonetheless welcomed.
"The government of South Sudan continues to oppose the negative threats of sanctions and punishment, which can only undermine cooperation," said Malok.
After gaining independence from neighboring Sudan in 2011, South Sudan descended into ethnic conflict when forces loyal to President Salva Kiir attacked those loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar in 2013. Tens of thousands have been killed and nearly 3 million people displaced due to the conflict.
Documenting South Sudan's forgotten civil war: Adriane Ohanesian
Photojournalist Adriane Ohanesian was announced as the winner of the 2016 Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award for her body of work, including numerous images from the civil war in South Sudan.
Image: A. Ohanesian
Sudan Liberation Army
Photojournalist Adriane Ohanesian was recognized with the 2016 Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award for her body of work, a large portion of which focuses on capturing scenes from the region around Sudan and Darfur. This photo from 2015 shows the Sudan Liberation Army led by Abdul Wahid (SLA-AW) climbing towards the front lines in the last rebel-held territory in Central Darfur.
Image: A. Ohanesian
Adam Abel in Central Darfur
"My photographs document what I've seen in isolated areas of the world," said Ohanesian. "I hope the people I photograph feel that these photos communicate their circumstances to the outside world. It takes a massive amount of trust on the part of my subjects to know that I'm accurately representing them and their story.”
Image: A. Ohanesian
Fleeing in Central Darfur, Sudan
Hundreds of women and children were living in a cave in central Darfur in 2015 after having fled the fighting. This shot is an astounding representation of how Ohanesian's "perceptive, compassionate eye offers an extraordinarily personal glimpse into places the global community may not otherwise see," the jury said.
Image: A. Ohanesian
Al-Shabaab suspects
Taken in 2014 in Mogadishu, Somalia, this image shows men arrested by Somali National Intelligence on suspicion of being members of Al-Shabaab's assassination and security group, Amniyat, during a cordon and search operation.
Image: A. Ohanesian
Women and children first
Central Darfur has seen years of civil war, which led these women and children to live in a cave after Sudanese government forces began bombing inside rebel-held territory in Central Darfur. Here, they sit outside of the cave in a 2015 photo.
Image: A. Ohanesian
Adriane Ohanesian
The freelance US photographer has gone to great lengths to snap front-line photos from a nearly forgotten civil war, winning several awards along the way, all while remaining modest: "At the end of the day it's not about me; it's about the lives of the people in the pictures."
