June 05, 2014(Addis Ababa) — UN Secretary-General, Ban ki-Moon telephoned both South Sudan President, Salva Kiir, and rebel leader, Riek Machar, on Wednesday (June 4) to urge them to immediately end the fighting in South Sudan and abide by the recently signed ceasefire agreements.
The UN Secretary-General said he was alarmed by reports on the resumption of hostilities in several areas between the government troops and rebels. A UN spokesperson said the Secretary-General, speaking to the President had “expressed his grave concern that hostilities have continued in violation of the 23 January Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities and the 9 May Agreement between President Kiir and former Vice-President Riek Machar to resolve the crisis in South Sudan.”
In a separate call with the former vice-president and rebel leader, Mr. Ban “reiterated his deep concern that hostilities have continued in violation of the Agreements.”
The UN chief, in his telephone conversations with the two leaders, emphasized the need for both parties to abide by the signed agreements and end all military operations “immediately”.
He also urged them to honor their commitment to meet on monthly basis to review the implementation of the signed deal, and meet on June 9 to review the progress achieved in the implementation of the May 9 agreement, and to reach an agreement on substantive issues, including transitional arrangements.
In his conversation with the president Kiir, Mr. Ban called for support to the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) in the implementation of its new mandate as endorsed by the UN Security Council on May 27.
He welcomed the UNSC resolution as well as its decision on deployment within UNMISS of an IGAD force to support protection of civilians and the Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (MVM).
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