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TRANSCRIPT
Committee: United Nations Security Council
Agenda: Situation in South Sudan
I. Introduction
The controversy over certain Member States taking a portion of another state’s sovereignty
has been one of the most crucial issues that the world has faced even before the foundation of the
United Nations. As wars (both civil and total) occurred, genocides, ethnic cleansings, human right
abuses from the absence of humanitarianism, and other numerous war crimes accompanied them as
inevitable outcomes. In order to prevent the eventualities of such, the United Nations Security Council
has promulgated the R2P, (a.k.a. Responsibility to Protect FYI) in the 2005 World Summit, which
affirms an international commitment. In many global exigencies, the Member States have deployed
interventions: in humanitarian, political, military, and economic aspects, which later became a
flashpoint of other conflicts, as the R2P failed to serve its duty due to extreme aggravation of the
original conflict or unrighteous exploitation. Situation in South Sudan is no exception. For South
Sudan, global interventions rather stimulated the preexisting conflict. Previously, the UN publicized
various documents in order to settle a legal red line to prevent mass atrocities in such circumstances.
In 1948, three years after the World War II, the UN General Assembly has hosted the “Convention on
the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,” which develops a decisive definition of
“genocide” into five categories:
1) Killing members of the group;
2) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
3) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical
destruction in whole or in part;
4) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
5) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group,
and strictly declared that there would be severe punishments on any individual or quota, who schemes
genocide (United Nations General Assembly). Although the ethnic conflict, supposedly, genocide, is
occurring in South Sudan, no effective intervention is settled, and mass atrocities and the lack of
humanitarianism currently remain firm in South Sudan.
II. Definitions of Key Terms:
|Genocide:
Genocide refers to a deliberate mass atrocity that is inflicted upon a group of people of certain ethnic
or cultural background, which is intended to eradicate the fundamental existence of that group. The
term itself was first coined after the Holocaust of the World War II, and was developed in two specific
periods: the period between 1944 and 1948, when the ban on genocide was internationally legislated
and the period between 1991 and 1998, when the previously legislated laws were realized and
enforced through opinio juris.
| R2P (Responsibility to Protect):
The Responsibility to Protect is an international coalition that was settled by the 2005 World Summit
to protect the civilians from in potential exigencies of war crimes, genocide, or ethnic cleansing, any
crimes that are aimed to impair the humanity. It states that the responsibility is the state sovereignty,
and every government is required and mandated to protect its people by maintaining an efficient and
secure state sovereignty. However, in cases where the state sovereignty is disabled or ill-maintained
by despotic government or external invasions, the Member States have the responsibility to restore the
nation’s sovereignty through temporary interventions.
| Intervention:
Intervention can be partly interpreted as the loss of state sovereignty. It can be managed in many
different aspects: economic, humanitarian, and military. As the former two are considered to invade
too much of state sovereignty, and thereby not normally deployed easily, humanitarian interventions
are consistently employed despite the dilemma that they do not often engender positive outcomes, but
that they are necessary in order to save the civilians from the danger of potential collateral casualties.
As those interventions are frequently abused by certain countries in order to achieve certain influence
on that nation, the concept of intervention itself is internationally controversial.
III. Background Information:
South Sudan is the last country in the world that has gained independence in July, 2011, and currently
one of the most destabilized countries in the world. The South Sudanese Civil War broke out on
December 15th, 2013, and still endures in the present days. One of the major rebel groups that have
resisted in the civil war was the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), which led the South Sudan
Liberation Movement (SSLM), a revolt against the government and newly elected President Salvar
Kiir. Previously, the SPLA pioneered South Sudan Separatism, which resulted in the independence of
South Sudan. It was the election of President Salvar Kiir that transformed the SPLA into an anti-
government force. As time passed, conflicts between the rebels and the government seemed to be
settled with the armistice in Juba. However, as George Athor, the major commander in chief of the
SPLA, was found killed in his way back from the borderline after recruitment, a week after he met
President Salva Kiir, the Juba truce lost its meaning. Although there had been certain extent of
amnesty provided to the former SPLA soldiers by President Salvar Kiir, the majority of them were
assimilated into the rebel forces under the control of the former vice president, Riek Machar.
Evidently, George Athor wasn’t the only one. SPLA was led by Commander Peter Gadet as well, and
frequent rebellions were led to the conclusion that President Salvar Kiir end up centralizing his power,
and thereby reforming the military. Primarily, he conducted the infusion of military into the police
service system, which indicated his aspiration of controlling the police system under his military
surveillance and influence. Therefore, every inspector general was replaced by a lieutenant from the
army. He also purged the military of his rivals, by execution or forced retirement. That is, he basically
set up an entirely new organization of the military. In the name of failed performance, since the
SPLM, President Salva Kiir discarded the top organs of the government too. In fact, Vice President
Riek Machar was one of the wrongly dismissed officials in President Salva Kiir’s reformation
process. As a result of his despotic reforms, President Salva Kiir induced the most unfavorable
outcome: the creation of another rebellion by Riek Machar. Starting from the Initial Mutiny in 2013,
Riek Machar became the official rebel leader, and according to the ethno-tribal backgrounds of the
two parties: President Salva Kiir (Dinka) and Riek Machar (Nuer), South Sudan is resisting the ethno-
tribal conflict between the Nuer and the Dinka.
Amidst the South Sudanese Civil War, humanitarianism and the inalienable rights have been
endangered. Economically, inflation has taken place for long, and the relative costs of goods and
services in South Sudan record the highest in the world. Moreover, famine has been officially
declared in 2017 (100,000 people are now about to be killed out of starvation). One third of the
population has been displaced, and as there is no substantial amount of arable lands available since the
civil war, the majority of the civilians, whose lifestyles base upon agriculture, cannot produce crops,
and therefore are under the threat of a severe food crisis. Although people are heavily dependent upon
nearby UN refugee camps, the lack of clean water and poor hygiene even generated the outbreak of
waterborne diseases. Children are often recruited as child soldiers. South Sudan is currently all about
the lacks: of humanitarianism, technology, and proper infrastructure.
IV. Past Actions of the United Nations and Non-Governmental Organizations:
| United Nations Country Team (UNCT)
As the situation in South Sudan is grave, the UN has launched an amalgamated head organ composed
of 20 representatives from crucial UN organs that would be operating within the country. Under the
ultimate control of the Resident Coordinator, the UNCT particularly supervises and advocates the
activities of individual branches with the fundamental guidelines set for the cooperation. It primarily
serves to secure humanitarian and development sectors, and also even collaborates with the
government. There are three major sectors that the UNCT is operated by: Programme Management
Team (PMT), United Nations Communications Group (UNCG), Operations Management Team
(OMT). The PMT coordinates the installation of the projects within the country, the UNCG fosters the
interactions between the UN headquarters and the regional sectors of the UNCT, while the OMT
endeavors to construct the network of entities involved in the UN operations, such as HR Network,
Finance Network, Procurement Network, ETC/ICT Network, HACT Committee, and UN Clinic
Committee.
| United Nations Mission in Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS)
The UN Mission in South Sudan has been launched by the United Nations Security Council, which
deploys the peacekeepers and pursues non-military intervention. Resolution 1996 that was publicized
in 2011 declared that the UNSC has viewed the situation in South Sudan as a consistent threat to the
maintenance of global peace and that there is the need of special provisions for the country.
Previously, determined to focus on the development factors in South Sudan, as the United Nations
countenanced the outbreak of the South Sudanese Civil War in December of 2013, the UNSC,
reformed the UNMISS in the direction of prioritizing the protection of the innocent civilians and
establishing internal peace by activating the Cessation of Hostilities agreement within South Sudan.
| United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Refugee Compound Camps in South Sudan
Like previously mentioned, the UNHCR refugee camps have been tolerating the homeless quotas in
South Sudan ever since December in 2013. Currently, by February, 2017, the estimated number of the
people who are now stationing in the UN compound refugee camps is considered to be over 1.5
million, and ergo, the refugee crisis within South Sudan overwhelms other refugee crises in entire
Africa. As the UNHCR William Spindler stresses, “more than 60 per cent of the refugees are children,
many arriving with alarming levels of malnutrition,” and they are believed to have been injured from
kidnappings, rapes, and starvation. Although temporarily, the UNHCR refugee compound campsites
are providing the civilians a safe haven from ongoing mass atrocities of the South Sudanese Civil
War.
V. Major Countries Involved:
| South Sudan
The South Sudanese government is led by President Salva Kiir ever since its independence in July,
2011 and even when the civil war broke out in December, 2013. Although there has been peace
agreement settled between President Salva Kiir and Riek Machar, conflicts remain active, and since
2016, President Salva Kiir’s death has been speculated by the world, but the government has denied
this allegation. Some may say that the South Sudanese Civil War is simply the ethnic conflict between
President’s Dinka background and Machar’s Nuer identity, but this disparity has contributed to the
recruitment of the two counterparts considerably. Due to the continuous military altercations between
the government and the rebel group, former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has ordered the
implementation of embargoes on arms in South Sudan, but military conflicts have never been ceased.
| Egypt
Egypt is one of the most active African countries that intervene into the South Sudanese Civil War.
As the crisis in South Sudan aggravated gradually, Egypt has been focusing more attention to the
peace and security within South Sudan, and currently, Egypt firmly asserts its pro-government state in
the civil war. Egypt has recently deployed a special envoy that would facilitate the talks between the
two conflicting parties of South Sudan. However, Egypt has been showing more support for President
Salva Kiir and the government, and is now accused of the bombing on the positions of the Sudan
People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO), the branched anti-government force that
has been segregated from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) led by Riek Machar,
with nine bombs in this year February. Nevertheless, the Egyptian government is sending food and
medical aids in order to protect the civilians from the seemingly endless humanitarian crisis resulting
from the civil war too.
| Uganda
Like Egypt, Uganda is also one of the East African countries that have agreed to intervene military-
wise if Riek Machar rejects to sign the ceasefire offer, concerning that the ethno-tribal conflict within
South Sudan would prevail more and even spread to other African countries. Currently, due to the
spread of rebel groups against South Sudanese government all over Africa, Uganda is also
considerably damaged from the elongated station of a rebel group, Lord’s Resistance Army. As
Uganda is geographically adjacent to South Sudan, it is also suffering from the influx of immense
displaced South Sudanese population, and as 3,000 South Sudaneses are estimated to enter Uganda
per day, in March, 2017, Uganda has declared that it cannot host any more of South Sudanese
population, and is at the breaking point. Uganda is indeed technically confronting the world’s largest
refugee crisis solely by itself, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.
| United States
So far, since President Obama’s term, the U.S. government has been exhibiting deep disillusionment
and disappointment toward the leadership of President Salva Kiir within South Sudan. The U.S. has
contributed to the revival of humanitarianism in South Sudan, and even supported the righteous
independence of South Sudan previously. Thereby, the U.S. even has the history of granting military
support for the establishment of South Sudan as an independent state starting from early 1990s. As
South Sudan has been prohibiting the humanitarian aid workers from entering the country and as
famine has been officially declared in 2017, the U.S. has strongly expressed a sign of warning to the
South Sudanese government that the government is deteriorating the humanitarianism in its own
nation, driving innocent civilians into starvation in the caucus within UNSC this March.
| Russian Federation
Unlike other countries, Russia is one of the countries that are conservative in employing interventions
in the situation in South Sudan. Previously, Russia has condemned the former Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon’s decision to withdraw Kenyan peacekeeping forces in order to deploy them for settling
down crisis in South Sudan, anticipating the potential insecurity that Kenya would have to bear. Also,
Russia is one of the countries that contradict the United States’ decision on implementing sanctions
on South Sudan. While United States believe that a measure has to be taken immediately, Russia
believes that simply employing the sanctions is not an ultimate solution for terminating the
fundamental crisis.
VI. Future Outlook / Solutions:
As military interventions implemented, prioritizing the R2P, have been considered failures in many
cases, the United Nations is reluctant to settle any military intervention, as it is shown in their non-
militarization of the UNMISS. Even in the UNSC’s 7906th meeting in this year’s March, clearly
declared that there would be no military intervention within South Sudan, but the UNSC presidential
statement highly acknowledged the need of guaranteeing the safety of the aid workers, as South
Sudan is currently inflicting violences and barricading the humanitarian aid groups from entering the
country borders even, which automatically delayed and has been delaying the revival of
humanitarianism within the conflicted regions. Moreover, as the Member States in that UNSC
meeting strongly expressed concern about the famine in South Sudan and urged the importance of an
immediate action to be taken over that issue. So far, considering the significance of mitigating pains
of the civilians in humanitarian, ethnic, and military aspects, the possible solutions for current South
Sudan include:
l a small arms treaty between South Sudan and the neighboring nations and the inspection
organization that effectively and efficiently pursue enforcement of the treaty
l an implementation of specific education curriculum that would remind the nation of the united
national identity, despite the disparities in the ethno-tribal identities
l a guaranteed route or passageway for the humanitarian aid workers for accessing the displaced
civilians on the verge of starvation
l increasing the availability of the refugee compound camps that are comprised of shelters, food,
medical aids, and other basic human necessities.
Although the exigency of South Sudan requires reformations in a variety of aspects in order to
terminate the hostilities, the conflict is so severe that there are not many tactics that can be even
implemented in the country. In order to fundamentally reduce the use of military weapons in the
scene, the supply of the arms must be reduced. Therefore, the legislation of a small arms treaty that
bans the trade of arms in the black markets between the neighboring nations of South Sudan is
essential as the weapons are transported to South Sudan from the rebel groups that are stationing in
other African nations. As the East African countries have even agreed to attempt a military
intervention in South Sudan for the sake of peace and security within South Sudan, the inspection
organization that would enforce the treaties between their borderlines seem to hold a promise.
As South Sudan is basically a nation that is comprised of many tribes of different ethnic backgrounds
and as the ongoing civil war partially is an ethno-tribal conflict between the Nuers and the Dinkas, the
importance of education system that would grant an image of united national identity needs to be
stressed fundamentally. This can be possibly established by paving a safe route for securing the
entrance of the humanitarian aid workers simultaneously. Like the UNCT that is carrying out different
programs, such as educating the youth about journalism in Juba and the South Sudan Development
2015 Report, regional local humanitarian aid workers can possibly provide better education system
transcending ethnicity, as they have a better understanding of the distinctions in-between tribes, if
their safety is promised.
Lastly, an alternative of increased availability of the refugee compound camps is desperately needed,
as the refugee compound campsites are the only places that the South Sudanese people can seek a
refuge, and as they are even crossing the borderlines to Uganda, which resulted in overpopulation of
campsites in Uganda even. The alternatives may include appropriate technologies (such as multi
filtration stages, including Slow Sand Filtration (SSF) and Oxfam Field Up-flow Clarifier, for
drinkable water supply), settlement of intertribal treaties for securing more demilitarized zones for
settling more refugee campsites, reinforcing the record system of locating the refugees, and elevating
the connectivity among refugees and their relatives. In fact, considering the fact that the majority of
the refugee camps’ population is children, expanding the network of refugee camps would possibly
decrease the recruitment of the military forces of both the two counterparts, as the access to children
who can be exploited as child soldiers is weakened concurrently. Furthermore, as the displaced South
Sudanese people even endure other health problems, such as waterborne diseases from poor hygiene
even in the campsites, reinforcing the implementation of technology and medical aids is crucial.
VII. Conclusion
Genocide has been officially categorized as the biggest bane of the humanity since the Holocaust in
the World War II in both external legal and customary legal terms internationally. However, in South
Sudan, the world’s newest independent state, genocide is once again prevailing, and more
significantly, there are no effective measures that can be taken to alleviate the collateral damages and
casualties amidst the power game between two ethnicities. Although humanitarian intervention is
considered to be tied to a serious dilemma, the decline of humanitarianism in South Sudan must be
addressed with intervention to a certain extent. Delegates are expected to devise the blueprint for
South Sudan as a truly independent nation with health state sovereignty with peace and security with
less displaced population, less casualties from malnutrition, and less ethnic incompatibility in this
conference.
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