By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, February 19 -- With fighting resumed in South Sudan, in Malakal and elsewhere, and reports of cluster bombs on the road to Bor and now perhaps in Bentiu, some wonder what became of the US State Department's February 8 call for the "the redeployment or phased withdrawal of foreign forces" from South Sudan.
When the State Department's deputy spokesperson Marie Harf held a press briefing by phone from the Iran P5+1 talks in Vienna on February 19, Inner City Press asked her for the US' position on the Ugandan army remaining, and about the reports of cluster bombs.
Harf replied that the call for "the redeployment or phased withdrawal of foreign forces" from South Sudan" was tied to the cessation of hostilities agreement that had been signed in Addis Ababa.
That agreement is widely described as in tatters, or no longer relevant. Harf said "we have recognized the role the Ugandan forces have played."
Still Harf said the US position remains they should "begin" phased withdrawal. She said she'd seen the cluster bombs reports and would look into what the US is doing. Ambassador Booth, she said, remains in Addis Ababa.
On February 14 a number of non-governmental organizations including the International Crisis Group and the International Rescue Committee wrote to Secretary of State Kerry, as well as to the Office of Management and Budget, requesting "an explicit FY’15 budget request for a UN, or UN supported, peacekeeping mission in CAR – either under the Contributions for International Peacekeeping Activities (CIPA) account or under the Peacekeeping Operations (PKO) account with language calling for assessed expenses of the CAR mission to be paid out of PKO."
Harf emphasized that the US has airlifted Burundian and Rwanda troops to the CAR, and is "developing target sanctions" as one option. She said she wasn't yet aware of the letter -- again, she was in Vienna -- but would check if it has been received, and what the response is. Watch this site.
