Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Explanation of vote by Deputy Permanent Representative Anna Evstigneeva after the UNSC vote on a draft resolution on UNMISS mandate renewal

Mr.President,

Russia abstained during the vote on US-proposed draft resolution renewing the mandate of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

We regret that the document did not duly reflect the positive developments in this young state, that Secretary-General highlighted in his recent quarterly report. Instead of this, the text fixated on negative aspects.

South Sudan may indeed need assistance in building capacity to solve problems related to human rights, sexual violence, women’s empowerment, combating corruption. However those issues are South Sudan’s internal affair in the first place. It is our understanding that neither the Security Council, nor the peacekeeping mission have proper tools to address these tasks.

Judging by its degree of detail, the resolution’s language would be more characteristic of a Human Rights Council’s document. It might seem that this language was included in the draft in order to exert pressure on Juba and impose some ready-made recipes on it, i.a. with the help of a “sanctions stick”. In our view, there is no other way to resolve these issues than through national efforts, based on sovereignty and political independence.

Russia supports the commitment of South Sudanese leadership to convening elections. We believe the electoral process should be prepared and conducted according to the situation on the ground. Most importantly, it should be seamless, transparent, and its conditions must be acceptable for all political forces. Otherwise risks of destabilization may outweigh all positive intentions. We proceed from the assumption that UN peacekeepers – once requested by the host side – can provide technical and logistical assistance. Yet their main task is to stabilize the security situation and help South Sudanese authorities implement the Revitalized Peace Agreement. We need an in-depth analysis of reasons why some its provisions are stalled, and targeted assistance to resolve corresponding contradictions. We believe the time has come to address the issue of adaptation of South Sudan’s effective sanctions regime to the new reality.

Mr.President,

We regret that our American colleagues chose to ignore most reservations that some delegations (including the delegation of Russia) expressed with regard to the resolution and forced the adoption of a misbalanced draft. Such working methods are incompatible with what is expected of penholders of a country file that stands on the UNSC agenda. We trust that the US side will draw conclusions from this situation.

Thank you.