As we have heard today, ongoing violence continues to displace civilians and to deepen an already acute humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n
Women and girls continue to bear the brunt, including through conflict-related sexual violence.<\/p>\n
First, the United Kingdom reiterates the urgent need for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a return to the political process.<\/p>\n
We urge all parties to use this immediate period to engage in genuine and inclusive dialogue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We welcome the work of AU Special Envoy President Kikwete, and the close cooperation between the UN, the AU, and IGAD in support of peace and dialogue.<\/p>\n
Second, any elections must strengthen, not undermine, peace and stability.<\/p>\n
The South Sudanese people should be able to choose their representatives, and hold them to account.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But this can only happen through elections that are credible, peaceful, and inclusive, or they risk a return to conflict.<\/p>\n
That means the conditions envisaged in the 2018 peace agreement must be in place, including sufficient political space, security, and inclusive participation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
An election in which major parties cannot participate freely would serve neither democracy nor peace.<\/p>\n
Third, public resources must be managed responsibly, transparently, and in the interests of the South Sudanese people.<\/p>\n
Essential services remain severely underfunded.<\/p>\n
The consequences are felt most acutely by ordinary South Sudanese: just 2 per cent of the national budget is currently spent on health and education.<\/p>\n
Functioning services, particularly healthcare, are increasingly critical as the risk grows of Ebola spreading into South Sudan.<\/p>\n
Finally, UNMISS continues to play a critical role in supporting peace and stability.<\/p>\n
The Mission provides a vital source of protection and support: helping to prevent and respond to intercommunal violence, maintaining a protective presence in areas at risk of conflict, facilitating humanitarian assistance, and supporting vital dialogue between communities.<\/p>\n
We call on the transitional government of South Sudan to cooperate fully with the Mission, and to ensure it can carry out its mandate freely and without obstruction.<\/p>\n
President, the people of South Sudan deserve a future defined not by violence and instability, but by peace, dignity, and accountable governance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As we have heard today, ongoing violence continues to displace civilians and to deepen an already acute humanitarian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-729787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}