This Week in South Sudan - Week 38

Monday 17 September

• Extra-Ordinary IGAD summit endorse R-ARCSS and request the UN Security Council to review its mandate for the Regional Protection Force.

Thursday 20 September

• At a briefing for the UN Security Council, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean Pierre Lacroix reported on an increasingly stable security situation in Abyei, thus advocated that the Security Council should entrust its peacekeeping force with the mandate to maintain law and order in the region. Sudan opposed the proposal.

Saturday 22 September

• The East African Standby Force announced that they are ready to deploy troops to South Sudan should the African Union request so. The EASF has previously not been deployed to any mission.
• The SPLM-IO National Liberation Council endorsed the revitalized peace agreement.
• A split occurred within the South Sudan National Movement for Change (SSNMC) where one faction rejected the peace agreement. The faction wants to dismiss its chairman Joseph Bangasi Bakosoro due to his endorsement of the agreement. The military commanders of the SSNMC continue to support Bakosoro.

Sunday 23 September

• Out of concern for his own safety, Riek Machar declined an invitation from President Kiir to visit Juba.
• The leader of National Salvation Front, Thomas Cirillo Swaka, said they are not committed to a ceasefire in South Sudan.