UN committed to support elections in South Sudan: Lacroix

February 21, 2024 (JUBA) – The United Nations peacekeeping chief, Jean-Pierre Lacroix has reiterated the world body’s commitment to provide support to elections in South Sudan as well as for peace and stability to return to Sudan.

Lacroix made the remarks at a meeting with South Sudanese officials in Juba.

The meeting specifically focused on important issues, including the humanitarian situation, the Abyei issue and the influx of refugees and returnees from Sudan.

It was attended by the Presidential Affairs minister, Joseph Bakosoro, Information minister, Michael Makuei and his East African Affairs counterpart, Deng Alor Kuol.

Lacroix led a UN delegation that also visited Abyei region for talks with officials from the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) as well as the local people.

Accompanied by the UN Special Envoy Hanna Tetteh, the UN peacekeeping chief also held discussions with Abyei administrator, Dinka Ngok traditional leaders and civil society actors focused on improving security and collaboration.

Since the start of the war, nearly 8 million people, half of them children, have fled Sudan.

Around 560,000 of them have taken refuge in South Sudan, according to the UN, which estimates that around 1,500 new arrivals turn up in the country every day.

Thousands of civilians were killed in the ongoing war, according to UN figures.

Some 25 million people, more than half of Sudan’s population, need humanitarian assistance, while an estimated 3.8 million children under the age of five are suffering from malnutrition, the UN says.

(ST)