Despite the appeals from South Sudan’s top leaders to end violence by their loyalists, reports of violence and tensions have increased in the past several days, not diminished. In light of this uneasy “peace,” Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa, called on the United Nations to expand its mandate and take a more active role in protecting civilians and restoring and maintaining order.

“The U.N. mission in South Sudan was established in 2011 to ease the transition to independence with a mandate to protect civilians and collaborate with the Government of South Sudan to that end, but clearly, its limited mandate has left civilians and peacekeepers vulnerable to attack,” Smith said. “Although the term of the U.N. mission has been repeatedly extended and its personnel increased, the mission’s ability to protect civilians or even its own peacekeepers is far from adequate. The Obama Administration should urgently support a more robust U.N. mandate in South Sudan.”

Around the time of South Sudan’s fifth anniversary of independence on July 9, forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and Vice-President Riek Machar began clashes over several days that have left hundreds dead and thousands displaced in the capital city of Juba. Civilians were reportedly killed on the way to U.N. protection of civilian sites.

Foreign nationals also have been caught up in the violence, including a U.S. embassy vehicle that was riddled with bullets. More than 900 Americans are in South Sudan, although the State Department said not all Americans in that country are registered. The Administration has sent in nearly 50 military personnel along with aircraft to specifically protect Americans. The U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) base in Juba also was targeted and two Chinese peacekeepers were killed. 

State Department reports and other analyses describe ongoing significant ethnic tensions in South Sudan. Additionally, the government military and forces of the former rebels consist of a patchwork of militias that apparently are only tenuously controlled by both Kiir and Machar. The civil conflict between forces loyal to the two leaders that began in December 2013 has thus far claimed the lives of at least 50,000 people and left 2 million civilians displaced. Another five million South Sudanese face severe food shortages.

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