The Minister of Information says the inclusion of Bangladesh and Nepal as members of the Regional Protection Force is a violation of the peace agreement.

Michael Makuei says the two countries are not members of the region.

Mr Makuei was speaking to reporters in Juba this afternoon after the meeting of the Council of Ministers chaired by President Salva Kiir.

He said the issue of the membership is one of the issues that have emerged in the process of deploying the force.

“The issue of armament and the deployment of the forces, and not that only but there is one outstanding issue which has just emerged. The forces referred to as the regional protection force, but if you see the list of the countries that are bringing in the forces these forces who are coming in are Nepalese and Bangladesh. These forces are not part of the region, this is one. We asked them as to why are you bringing these people. They said we are bringing these people because they are technocrats; they are engineers and medical doctors. And we said this force here in the region, is it true that they have no engineering section and there is no medical corps. So we want to know. If they bring in forces from outside the region, then they are definitely in violation of the agreement, and if they want to bring the forces from outside the region, then they must change the name of the force,” Makuei said.

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The regional protection force of 4,000 members is mandated by the UN Security Council to work under UNMISS to protect key installations such as the airport.

The force is also mandated to facilitate delivery of humanitarian assistance, and use all means to protect civilians and deter violence from any armed group.

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