I congratulate you, Mr. President,
your country, Uganda, and the African continent on
your election to the presidency of the Assembly at its
sixty-ninth session. My delegation and I pledge our
full support to you, Sir, in this important mission. I
also wish to congratulate Ambassador John Ashe for
successfully completing his term.
We are all bound by our moral duty and legal
obligations to address the challenges confronting the
world today. We need to act in solidarity to promote
global peace and security for the good of our nations.
In this context, I urge the United Nations and all Heads
of State and Government to support the current peace
initiatives in the world, especially those in the Middle
East, the Central African Republic, Somalia, Mali, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic
of South Sudan. We need to find appropriate ways
and means to end these conflicts and many others in
the world, and to pave the way for all the nations and
peoples of the world to live in peace and to enjoy their
basic rights.
In addition, the Security Council needs to be
strengthened to deal with new global challenges.
Therefore, we support the call of the African leaders
for a comprehensive review of the Security Council
to ensure that Africa and the other continents are well
represented in this important international body, in
accordance with the African position as stipulated by
the Ezulwini Consensus and Sirte Declaration. This
will create a more inclusive Security Council and
empower all the continents to play a greater and more
effective role in promoting global peace and security
for the benefit of the human race. More importantly, it
will ensure that the Security Council continues to fulfil
its purpose and be more able to achieve its mandate.
The journey of my people from conflict to
peace, independence and freedom was costly.
It was characterized by economic and political
marginalization, a prolonged war, humanitarian
disasters, the loss of millions of lives and untold human
suffering. At independence, we acquired a country with
a multitude of challenges, ranging from weak national
institutions and inadequate physical infrastructure to
limited human capacity and weak security mechanisms.
We are grateful the international community for its
support and for continuing to provide humanitarian and
development assistance.
I have no doubt that the world has followed with
shock and disbelief the violent conflict that erupted
in South Sudan on Sunday, 15 December 2013, which
was plotted by my former Vice-President, who wanted
to seize power by force. He was too impatient in his
thirst for power. He did not want to wait for the general
elections scheduled to take place in 2015, when he could
have sought a mandate from the people of South Sudan,
as required by our transitional Constitution. The failed
coup and the ensuing rebellion resulted in the loss of
many innocent lives, the destruction of property and
damaged community relationships. However, the coup
was foiled, and the Government is continuing to defend
the country and the people against the rebellion.
The Government and the people of South Sudan
take this opportunity to thank the United Nations,
the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority
for Development (IGAD) and the entire international
community for their prompt action to restore peace and
stability in my country. My Government is unwaveringly
committed to resolving the conflict peacefully, and my
negotiating team has been in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
since January, talking with the rebels about peace,
in order to close a dark chapter in the history of our
young country and, on a new page, to pave the way
for us once again to embark on the difficult mission of
socioeconomic development, which our people urgently
need.
With the dedicated efforts of the mediators,
we were able to sign an agreement on cessation of
hostilities between the Government of the Republic
of South Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation
Movement/Army in Opposition on 23 January and to
reaffirm our commitment to the agreement on 9 May.
My Government has demonstrated its firm commitment
to peace, has unreservedly honoured those agreements
and is continuing to negotiate in good faith to find a
peaceful solution to the conflict. However, the rebels
have violated the agreements too many times and have
refused to sign the Protocol Agreement, which is a
crucially important document signed by the Heads
of State and Government of IGAD, including myself
as a party to the conflict. That important document
forms the basis for resolving the crisis peacefully
and inclusively. Therefore, I urge the international
community to prevail on the rebels to sign the Protocol
Agreement.
We appreciate the fact that the international
community is rightly concerned about the humanitarian
crisis and human rights abuses that resulted from
the failed coup and the rebellion. In that regard, my
Government has ordered an investigation into those
abuses and has also accepted to cooperate with the
Commission of Inquiry formed by the African Union to
carry out investigations into allegations of human rights
violations. We are determined to hold accountable
those who are found responsible, as we do not condone
impunity under any circumstances.
My Government recently signed into law provisions
to guarantee freedom of expression in the media. It has
also ratified three United Nations core conventions,
namely, the Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination against Women; the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and its first
Optional Protocol; and the Convention on the Rights
of the Child, the Optional Protocol on the involvement
of children in armed conflict and the Optional Protocol
on the sale of children, child prostitution and child
pornography. Those are all positive measures put in
place to address some of the concerns.
The conflict in South Sudan is purely a political
struggle for power and not an ethnic conflict, as has
been reported. The citizens displaced by the conflict,
especially in the three states of Jonglei, Unity and
Upper Nile, have sought refuge in the neighbouring
states of Lakes, Warrap, Central Equatoria and Eastern
Equatoria and in neighbouring countries. Those
innocent victims of the conflict urgently need and
deserve humanitarian assistance. We therefore thank
the United Nations, the Government of Norway and
the stakeholders for organizing the donor conference
in Oslo, Norway, in May to support our humanitarian
needs. We also deeply appreciate and welcome the
high-level ministerial meeting on South Sudan that the
United Nations organized on 25 September as a sideline
event of the sixty-ninth session of the Assembly, during
which a number of donors made pledges of support.
My Government is fully committed to providing
humanitarian access and has taken the necessary
measures to facilitate access for humanitarian agencies.
The conflicts within our two countries of South
Sudan and the Sudan tend to be interconnected.
That is why we in the Republic of South Sudan will
exert increased efforts to strengthen relations with
the Republic of the Sudan. Our oil flows through the
territory of the Sudan. In the spirit of cooperation,
my Minister for Foreign Affairs and International
Cooperation will soon commence more joint visits with
his Sudanese counterpart to donor countries to appeal
and lobby for lifting and waiving the Sudan’s foreign
debt, as was agreed in the Cooperation Agreement
between the Republic of the Sudan and the Republic of
South Sudan. There are outstanding issues associated
with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, especially
the final status of Abyei. The Republic of South Sudan
and the Sudan are working through those issues with
the members of the the African Union High-level
Implementation Panel mediation team and our other
partners to find an amicable, peaceful solution with the
Sudan. 1 am committed to addressing those outstanding
issues, and I am in direct communication with President
Omer Al-Bashir of the Sudan to resolve those issues
through dialogue.
Furthermore, my Government and the people of
South Sudan would like to state our appreciation and
thanks to the countries that have expressed support for
the peaceful resolution of the conflict in my country,
especially the United States of America, China, Egypt,
South Africa, the Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia,
Norway, the Congo and Namibia, together with many
others.
My Government is collaborating with the United
Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and other
stakeholders, such as community leaders, political
parties, civil societies and faith-based organizations,
to build trust with the internally displaced persons in
UNMISS camps and to encourage them to return to their
homes and their pre-conflict areas and resume their
normal livelihoods. With respect to our cooperation
with UNMISS, my Government would like to express
its concern regarding the latest mandate of UNMISS,
which has very serious implications for service delivery
to my people. I note in particular that the new mandate
does not allow UNMISS to respond to requests from
national, state and local partners for assistance in
important activities connected with capacity-building,
peacebuilding, disarmament, demobilization and
reintegration, security sector reform, recovery and
development.
Notwithstanding the fact that the activities I have
just mentioned are of paramount importance to South
Sudan, we strongly believe that the main objective of
UNMISS is to support peace and reconciliation first
and foremost. We humbly request the Security Council
to reconsider its decision when the UNMISS mandate
comes up for renewal in November. Also, we would
further urge UNMISS to engage in reorientation
of its activities relating to the mandate of protecting
civilians and to shift from protection-by-presence to
protection-by-action. This is very important because
the presence of troops that do not move does nothing to
save the civilian population. It is vital that they become
active. They must also encourage those in UNMISS
camps to return to their homes. UNMISS needs to
protect the civilians in their neighbourhoods, not in
camps, because ours is a huge country — larger than
France.
The theme of the current session is “Delivering
on and implementing a transformative post-2015
development agenda”. It is no surprise that the Republic
of South Sudan, as a three-year-old country facing
numerous challenges, will not achieve the Millennium
Development Goals. We commend the Secretary-
General and the Working Group for coordinating
the discussions on the 17 sustainable development
goals (SDGs), which will form the post-2015 global
development agenda. It is vital that the SDGs focus
nations’ efforts on reducing poverty; ending hunger
and achieving food security; addressing our health
concerns, especially those issues affecting women
and children; promoting gender equality and the
empowerment of women and girls; addressing the
issues of access, equity and quality of education; and
tackling youth unemployment.
We firmly believe that the attainment of the SDGs
will require strong, sustained partnership, collaboration
and coordination at the international, regional and
national levels, and leadership from the United Nations.
For our part, we will spare no effort and will work in
conjunction with the international community and our
partners in the New Deal, as a fragile State member of
the Group of Seven Plus, to attain the new development
goals.
I wish to take this opportunity to express our
solidarity and support to the victims of Ebola in the
greater West Africa region, particularly in Liberia,
Guinea and Sierra Leone. We acknowledge the leading
role of the United States of America in assisting the
continent to combat the virus. It is vital that the SDGs
address such global health threats.
The Republic of South Sudan strongly condemns
all forms of terrorism, including piracy, which has
become a menace to international peace and security.
Climate change is now recognized as a major global
threat — a threat that could wipe out planet Earth
and the entire human race. I commend the Secretary-
General for convening the recent climate summit to
focus attention on this global problem, and I urge all
the members of the Assembly to heed the call of the
Secretary-General and take bold action. I am pleased
that the SDGs cover environmental issues of concern
to the international community, and I hope the climate
summit to be held in Paris in December 2015 will result
in an agreement on a new global legal framework for
tackling climate change. We must win the race against
the clock to save our planet and humankind before it is
too late. To echo Ms. Graça Machel, tackling climate
change requires leadership, courage and ambition from
all of us. Let us act in solidarity to create the future we
want.
Finally, Sir, I reiterate my resolve to restore peace
to the people of South Sudan, to fully implement the
cooperation agreements with the Republic of the
Sudan, to provide unrestricted support to humanitarian
assistance, to respect human rights and ensure
democratic governance in my country, and to strengthen
working relations with UNMISS and all the members
of the international community without exception. We
will work in unison to establish a safe, secure, peaceful
and prosperous South Sudan.
We are all one in this world — whether strong or
weak, rich or poor. Let us therefore stick together.