UAE diplomat Amiera Al Hefeiti called on Monday for more dialogue and women's participation to help South Sudan turn the page on years of chaos and political in-fighting.
Addressing the UN Security Council, Ms Al Hefeiti, the UAE’s deputy UN ambassador, voiced support for “all efforts geared towards fulfilling the aspirations of the people of South Sudan for prosperity development and peace”.
“The implementation of the revitalised agreement remains the basis for achieving stability, peace, development and unity in South Sudan,” Ms Al Hefeiti told the 15-nation chamber in New York.
The 2018 peace deal has yet to be fully put into effect due to political bickering.
“We hope that the government's efforts in this regard will lead to a peaceful solution, one which includes a meaningful and comprehensive dialogue with the concerned parties.”
She also called for “enhanced women's participation in the peace process” as a way to help the country “move towards a lasting peace”.
Ms Al Hefeiti expressed concern over the country’s turbulent north-east, urging armed groups to “exercise restraint” and calling for the protection of women and children against sexual violence.
South Sudan, the world’s newest country, has lurched from crisis to crisis since gaining independence in 2011.
The country of 11 million people has endured a brutal five-year civil war, flooding, hunger and violence.
At least 440 civilians were killed in fighting between rival armed militias in the south-western part of the country between June and September last year, the UN says.
Dozens were killed and four injured in an attack on Sunday in the Abyei border region, a disputed area between South Sudan and Sudan, in the latest violent flare-up between South Sudanese herders and fighters from Sudan, local officials said.
A statement from the government of the Abyei special administrative area called on the UN peacekeeping force there to protect civilians.
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
'How To Build A Boat'
Jonathan Gornall, Simon & Schuster
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
THE SPECS
Engine: 3-litre V6
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 424hp
Torque: 580 Nm
Price: From Dh399,000
On sale: Now
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
