UN security chief to brief council on grounded aircraft, UNMISS relations with Juba

NEW YORK — The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, will brief the Security Council this week on growing operational constraints facing the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), including government demands to ground intelligence-capable aircraft and mounting tensions over the mission’s restructuring, as closed consultations on South Sudan convene on Tuesday.

Lacroix is expected to update Council members on UNMISS’ ongoing contingency plan, introduced after UN-wide austerity measures required peacekeeping missions to cut spending by 15 per cent.

The plan, already being implemented, involves repatriating a quarter of UNMISS uniformed personnel and equipment, closing selected field offices and bases, and reducing civilian and military staffing levels.

These cost-cutting measures come amid heightened political instability and localised violence in South Sudan, raising concerns among Council members over whether the mission will retain sufficient capacity to protect civilians and support implementation of the 2018 Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS).

However, financial pressure is only one dimension of the mission’s current challenges. Relations between UNMISS and the South Sudanese government have deteriorated in recent months following formal requests by Juba to sharply scale down the mission’s footprint.

In October 2025, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked UNMISS to reduce its international military contingents by 70 per cent, close several bases and civilian protection sites, and ground aircraft equipped with intelligence-gathering capabilities.

A subsequent government note verbale in November called for the closure of UNMISS bases in Wau and Bentiu, repatriation of peacekeepers together with their weapons, and comprehensive plans for handling heavy contingent-owned equipment. These demands have triggered intense diplomatic engagement between Juba and the UN headquarters in New York.

According to a UN Secretariat communication circulated to Council members in December, delays in troop rotations, equipment movement, and repatriation — which require host government facilitation — have driven up monthly mission expenses. UN officials have warned that if the impasse persists, UNMISS could exhaust its financial resources by March 2026 and may need to prepare for a possible suspension of operations.

The South Sudanese government has denied obstructing UNMISS activities. In a letter to the Security Council dated 15 December 2025, Juba rejected allegations that it has created barriers to troop rotation or repatriation. The letter also argued that the contingency plan was developed without prior consultation or consent of the host government, and maintained that its requests regarding UNMISS operations were proposals rather than binding conditions.

During Tuesday’s consultations, several Council members are expected to seek clarification from Lacroix on how the UN Department of Peace Operations plans to address the government’s concerns while ensuring UNMISS maintains its core mandate, particularly civilian protection and support to the peace process.

Council members are also likely to urge all parties in South Sudan to uphold the ceasefire, exercise restraint, and recommit to implementing transitional security arrangements under the revitalised peace agreement.

The briefing is expected to shape the Council’s next steps on the future posture of UNMISS, as the mission navigates financial strain, operational restructuring, and an increasingly complex relationship with its host government.