Despite persistent rebel bloodshed in sections of Africa’s youngest country, the UN Security Council has extended the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan for another year.
The renewed mandate, according to US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, will help boost efforts to combat sexual and gender-based violence and allow the peace mission to give electoral assistance.
The UN’s 19,000-strong contingent, which includes 17,000 soldiers and 2,101 police officers, was retained.
Thousands of people were killed and millions were displaced by a brutal civil war that lasted from 2013 to 2018.
A power-sharing arrangement has failed to quell the violence in many parts of the country. This has prompted the UN to issue a pessimistic estimation for next year’s elections.