On 4 February, a contingent of 266 additional peacekeepers arrived in South Sudan. The troops include 10 women, two of whom are doctors, and three nurses. They will be deployed in Juba at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) protection sites. The arrival of additional battalions is expected in the coming weeks.
The current deployment is pursuant to the 24 December 2013 UN Security Council resolution 2132 which reinforced UNMISS military and police components by an additional 5,500 troops and 423 police, to bring the total authorized numbers in South Sudan up to 12,500 peacekeepers and up to 1,323 police. The Security Council also encouraged “inter-mission cooperation” for needed troops and assets to be transferred from other UN missions to UNMISS. Additional troops are therefore coming from already existing peacekeeping operations
So far, all additional authorized police have arrived as Formed Police Units and been sent to Bentiu, Bor, Malakal and Juba in the course of January.
UNMISS is currently protecting approximately 75,000 civilians in 8 protection sites located on UNMISS compounds, including over 43,000 in Juba; 21,000 in Malakal; 6,000 in Bor and close to 3,000 in Bentiu.
For further information or media enquiries, Spokesperson: Ariane Quentier - quentier@un.org +211 912 177 770