UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A pledge by South Sudan's government to allow the deployment of more U.N. peacekeepers and to improve access for U.N. troops already on the ground in a bid to avoid an arms embargo is yet to translate into action, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said on Monday. President Salva Kiir agreed during a U.N. Security Council visit to South Sudan last month to accept 4,000 extra peacekeepers and to allow some 12,000 peacekeepers already on the ground to move around freely in order to protect civilians. It was not immediately clear if Ban's letter would trigger a consideration by the council of an arms embargo on South Sudan. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011. However, the South Sudanese government said it never received the note verbale from its mission and that "the lack of a response could therefore not be considered as consenting to the deployment of the aforementioned troops."

Source: The Star October 11, 2016 03:00 UTC