South Sudan president considers new, stronger UN force

Juba (AFP) - South Sudan's President Salva Kiir said Monday he is not opposed to the deployment of a strengthened UN force while expressing "very serious concerns" over the internationally-backed plan.

The comments come as the UN faces renewed criticism over repeated failures to protect civilians, including foreign aid workers.

In a speech at the opening of parliament in the capital Juba, Kiir said more time and further negotiations were needed before the deployment of a new contingent with a stronger mandate.

"We need to be engaged in a discourse and exchange ideas on what is the best way forward, rather than be presented with a fait accompli from outsiders," Kiir said.

On Friday the UN Security Council approved a US-drafted resolution backed by regional bloc IGAD to strengthen the 12,000-person peacekeeping mission, known as UNMISS, with 4,000 additional troops drawn from regional armies and equipped with a more aggressive mandate.

An arms embargo was threatened if South Sudan throws up barriers to the deployment.

The latest allegations of UN failings came in a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report published Monday which said peacekeepers did nothing as women were raped, civilians murdered and foreign aid workers targeted during the most recent deadly flare up that killed hundreds in Juba last month.

In one incident government soldiers rampaged through a hotel compound, "where they killed a prominent journalist, raped or gang raped several international and national staff of (aid) organisations, and destroyed, and extensively looted property," said HRW.

During the hours-long assault the UN "did not respond to direct calls for protection by aid workers at the... compound, a kilometre from their base," HRW said.

- Sovereignty first -

It is hoped a strengthened UN force might prevent a repeat of this and many other atrocities.

Kiir said he was "not instinctively or automatically" against the UN-mandated force, but he insisted that sovereignty comes first, winning cheers from the assembled MPs in a parliament dominated by his loyalists.

"We welcome assistance, we are attentive to advice. But assistance requires dialogue, it should not turn into an imposition that becomes an intervention, in which our sovereignty is compromised and our ability to govern effectively diminishes," Kiir said.

South Sudan's civil war began in December 2013 when Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup. The fighting has split the country along ethnic lines and driven it to the brink of collapse.

A peace deal signed between the government and rebels almost a year ago has so far failed to end the conflict.

Kiir -- a former guerrilla commander -- also promised to reform the military and make it "completely subordinate to the authority of a civilian government."

Without offering any details of how opposing factions might be reconciled, Kiir promised to create a single national army by May 2016.

"The unnatural reality of one country and two armies coexisting side by side is dysfunctional and already proven to be disastrous as we witnessed during July's tragic events," he said.

Kiir also promised alleged abuses by soldiers would be investigated and called for more international financial assistance to help rebuild the economy.

- A million flee -

Nearly a million refugees have now fled the brutal conflict and are suffering dire conditions in camps across the region, refugee agency UNHCR said Monday.

"With refugees fleeing South Sudan in their thousands, surrounding countries are straining under the weight of large numbers of displaced people and critically underfunded operations," the UNHCR said in a statement.

"Already there are some 930,000 refugees in the region, and more are arriving daily."

The agency said it urgently needs more money to relocate 45,000 refugees from overstretched reception centres.

It has only received a fifth of the $609 million (545 million euros) it needs for operations helping refugees now scattered across six countries, as well as the 1.6 million internally displaced, it added.

"With so many people living in such close proximity, the potential for disease outbreak is high," the UNHCR said.