Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Statement by Mr. Peter Iliichev, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, at the Security Council meeting on situation in Sudan and South Sudan

May 12, 2016



The Russian delegation voted in favour of resolution 2287 (2016), given the importance of maintaining consensus in the Council on the issue of an Abyei settlement and oа pursuing the activities of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei in upholding peace and stability in that region.
At the same time, we cannot support the impulse driving several delegations to raise ad infinitum the issue of appointing a civilian head of the peacekeeping mission, as reflected in the twenty-seventh preambular paragraph of the resolution. The Government of the Sudan does not agree to such an appointment and its views cannot be ignored. Even the very name of mission in Abyei speaks against appointing a civilian head. We recall that basic peacekeeping principles require United Nations peacekeeping operations be deployed with the consent of the parties to the conflict. That requires the assent of all interested parties, including the Sudan, to any change in the mission’s leadership, especially as in this case it falls under Chapter VI of the Charter of the United Nations.