Mr. President,

I congratulate Mr. Haysom on his appointment as the SRSG for South Sudan, and thank him for his briefing today. I’ve also listened carefully to Mr. Mohandis’ statement. I welcome the representative of South Sudan to today’s meeting.

Next month, South Sudan will celebrate its 10th anniversary of independence. We should seize this as a new starting point to redouble our efforts to achieve peaceful development of South Sudan. The international community should continue to provide constructive support. In connection with the Secretary-General’s report, I would like to make the following comments.

Recently, the transitional government of South Sudan has overcome numerous difficulties and completed restructuring of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly, improved the local governance structure, started the constitution making, and also achieved other significant progress. All parties in South Sudan should continue to advance the work of general election preparation and unifying forces building, and implement the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan as to lay the foundation for lasting peace. China calls on the opposition coalition to reach a peace agreement with the South Sudan government as soon as possible. The issue of South Sudan is complex, and the implementation of the revitalized agreement cannot be achieved overnight. The international community should fully consider the national conditions of South Sudan, fully respect its leadership in handling its own affairs, support the AU, IGAD and other regional organizations in playing an active role, and provide targeted assistance instead of only exerting pressure. The Security Council should respond to the appeal of the AU as soon as possible by lifting the sanctions against South Sudan and sending a positive message.

The ceasefire in South Sudan is generally maintained while the security situation remains fragile. Inter-communal conflicts, armed violence, competition for land resources and other issues still exist. China calls on the parties concerned to honor their ceasefire commitments and actively commit themselves to the peace process. Inter-communal conflict is an old problem. Efforts should be made to strengthen early warning, adopt preventive actions, and promote inter-communal reconciliation to eliminate the root causes of the conflict. The international community should strengthen capacity building of the government of South Sudan and enhance its ability to protect civilians.

At present, South Sudan is facing great economic difficulties, prominent food insecurity, insufficient healthcare capacity and huge gap in humanitarian assistance. The international community should continue to increase humanitarian assistance to South Sudan to fight the pandemic and provide COVID-19 vaccines to help overcome the current difficulties. China feels for South Sudan. We have sent more than 3000 tons of food and other humanitarian aid to its government, over 10 batches of supplies in fighting the pandemic and dispatched medical expert teams, and at the same time maintained our support in infrastructure construction, education, healthcare and other fields to South Sudan. UNMISS has played an important role in protecting civilians and promoting the implementation of the peace agreement, which China appreciates. We hope that UNMISS will strengthen communication with the government of South Sudan, enhance mutual trust and properly resolve problems such as movement restrictions.

I thank you, Mr. President.