Members of the United Nations Security Council are in Juba to engage the government on the deployment of the regional protection force.

The 15 ambassadors of the Security Council arrived in Juba on Friday evening.

They will spend four days in the country. Today, they will meet with President Salva Kiir and Council of Ministers of the Transitional Government of National Unity.

Last month, the UN Security Council authorized the deployment of 4,000-strong regional force to Juba following renewed violence that led to the killing of more than 300 people in July.

Addressing reporters upon arrival at Juba International Airport, the co-team leader, US Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Samantha Power, said they have come to Juba to see progress on the deployment of the regional protection force.

She said the best way of averting further destabilization and giving the August 2015 peace agreement a chance to take hold is the deployment of the force.

“We really need to see progress on the deployment of the regional protection force and the lifting obstruction of humanitarian actors and of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan and hopefully of moving forward under the political agreement which is going to have to be the foundation for stability going forward,” Amb Power stated.

Responding to questions from the press on what would the plan B be if the government of South Sudan refused to accept the deployment of the protection force, Amb Power warned that the Plan B would be frustrating to the United Nations as well as to the government and the people of South Sudan.

She said those who are acting with impunity, carrying killings and rape, looting and stealing humanitarian aid, are those who do not want the regional protection force to be deployed in South Sudan.

“We expect the government of South Sudan as the newest member-state to the United Nations to want to end the culture of impunity, to want to end killings and sexual assaults and ethnically-based attacks and political attacks,” she continued.

“So, we are here as the Council to not get to ‘plan B’. It would be a great disappointment not merely for the UN Security Council, but for the people of this country who count on the government.”

This afternoon, they will also visit the protection of civilians’ sites in Juba. And on Sunday, they will travel to Wau to visit a protection area established adjacent to the UNMISS base, to meet internally displaced persons.

Council members will also engage with civil society organizations, community leaders, women and youth groups to obtain firsthand perspectives on the security situation, their needs, challenges, the impact of the conflict on communities.