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- Statements to the Press by UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, following a meeting with the Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Martin E. Lomuro

We just had a meeting with His Excellency the Minister and his colleagues from the Government. We discussed different issue. We discussed about the security situation in South Sudan; we discussed about the peace process and how to advance efforts with a view to bring peace and stability in South Sudan; we referred to the revitalization efforts of IGAD; we referred to efforts that have been made by neighbouring countries such as Uganda; and we agreed that these were promising efforts and promising initiatives that we have to help move forward.I stated the fact that the UN is here to help South Sudan achieve peace and to help South Sudan achieve peace and to help the population of South Sudan.We emphasized the fact that the UN humanitarian agencies are doing their best to help the population of South Sudan and we look forward to further cooperation with the Government so that we can access populations in distress wherever the needs are.Q: It was mentioned that within a few weeks, the Regional Protection Force (RPF) would be deployed in South Sudan. The same message has been echoed by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (David Shearer) several times in press conferences. As per your discussions, when do you see this RPF deployment in Juba … how soon?The RPF that was decided by the Security Council last year is in the process of being deployed. We already have some units that have arrived here and we look forward to the other units to deploy in South Sudan as expeditiously as possible. We had an exchange on this with the minister, as he mentioned. I explained that we are looking forward to further support from the government to expedite the procedures that are needed to facilitate those deployments.On our side, we are working very hard with Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs) to make sure that they will be able to deploy as expeditiously as possible.So it’s a team work and it requires the cooperation of all, the hard work of the UN, the Troop Contributing Countries and the hard work of the Government of South Sudan.