South Sudan's vice president has dismissed the need for peacekeepers in his country, insisting that peace has been achieved after a civil war that broke out in 2013 and produced more than 1 million refugees.
Taban Deng says South Sudan does not need the 13,000 UN peacekeepers already in the country. He said a new Security Council resolution that called for 4000 more peacekeepers "didn't take into consideration our concerns as a nation".
"We already have 13,000 U.N. troops in South Sudan who are sitting idle, not doing anything because there's a problem with their mandate, and there's also a problem with how they were selected,'' Deng said in an interview on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
He added that his country isn't "a dumping place'' for peacekeepers "who can't really help".
"I don't think South Sudan needs peacekeeping,'' Deng said, insisting that it "isn't a failed nation".
UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous disagreed with Deng's assessment, pointing out that South Sudan's government has made contradictory statements since the government signed a joint statement with the Security Council endorsing the additional troops.
"We don't have a clear situation but I can tell you we are sparing no effort to move toward generating a force because the Security Council has made it very clear that we should do so,'' he said.
"My country is peaceful, there is peace in South Sudan,'' Deng also declared, asking international donors to help it out with relief measures and nation-building initiatives.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described a starkly different scenario earlier this week at a high-level UN meeting on the humanitarian situation in South Sudan.
"For years, South Sudan has struggled to gain its independence. Now it's struggling for survival,'' Ban said. "Rarely have such high hopes been squandered so quickly.''
South Sudanese President Salva Kiir appointed Deng in July to replace opposition leader Riek Machar, who was fired in a controversial decision and fled north to Sudan.
Deng said Machar is welcome to return to South Sudan. "He's South Sudanese, he can decide to come to Juba anytime,'' referring to South Sudan's capital.
