UN Security Council extends UN mission in South Sudan for one year

The UN Security Council voted on Wednesday to renew for one year the UN mission in South Sudan.

Thirteen out fifteen members voted in favour of the resolution that extends the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) until 15 March 2024.

China and Russia abstained.

According to a UN statement, the mission, one of the most expensive in the world with an annual budget of 1.2 billion dollars, "will maintain its force at a ceiling level of 17 000 troops and 2 101 police officers".

Following the end of a civil war in 2018 that began in 2013 and claimed at least 380 000 lives, President Salva Kiir and his rival Riek Machar formed a transitional government and agreed to unite their forces into a single army to protect their people, who have been hard hit by conflict and climatic disasters.

South Sudan is the world's youngest state and is engaged in a fragile peace process but is still plagued by armed violence.