The belligerent parties in South Sudan’s ongoing civil war have been urged by the United Nations (UN) to immediately end the conflict.

The call was made on Thursday by the UN Security Council in New York as it renewed the mandate of UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) for another year.

With the unanimous adoption of a resolution on the mandate’s extension until 15 March 2019, the UN decided to maintain the overall force levels of UNMISS.

This includes a troop ceiling of 17 000 troops, incorporating a regional protection force at levels to be set by the Secretary-General but not exceeding 4 000, and maintaining the ceiling of 2 101 police personnel, including individual police officers, formed police units and 78 corrections officers.

UNMISS is charged with performing tasks like protecting civilians, creating the conditions conducive to the delivery of humanitarian assistance, monitoring and investigating human rights violations, and supporting the peace process.

South Sudan’s ambassador to the world body, Moum Majak Ngor Malok welcomed the renewal of UNMISS’s mandate, but lamented that the Council had chosen to politicise a peacekeeping resolution.

“There is a need to bridge the discrepancy between the primary responsibility of the state and the complementary support of the international community,” Malok told the 15-member Council.