Kenya agrees to rejoin UN protection force in South Sudan

Kenyan forces will rejoin the UN peace keeping mission in South Sudan, three months after pulling out.

This was declared on Wednesday by UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, who added that, “he had reached full agreement with Kenya in order for Kenya to participate in the regional protection force” to be deployed in Juba.

Kenya had withdrawn its troops in November after former UN Chief Bank Ki- moon sacked the Kenyan commander, Lieutenant General Johnson Mogoa Ondieki, for failing to protect civilians during heavy fighting in Juba, in July.

The general was sacked following a UN special investigation that blamed Ondieki and a “lack of leadership” in UNMISS for the “chaotic and ineffective” response to the violence in the capital Juba.

Kenya had more than 1,000 troops deployed in South Sudan.

The UN Security Council decided in August to send a 4,000-strong regional force to bolster its peacekeeping mission, but the plan has been stalled by bureaucratic hurdles.

Guterres who had a series of meeting with regional leaders at the sidelines of the African Union (AU) Summit in Addis Ababa, also met with president Salva Kiir and said AU’s mediator for South Sudan, former Malian president, Aplha Oumar Konare, would lead the new diplomatic push backed by the UN.

The UN Chief is expected to deliver a report to the Security Council on his diplomatic efforts in South Sudan on Friday.