UN renews the mandate of the U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) for six months.

Khartoum-SudaneseOnline-United Nations Security Council on Tuesday renewed the mandate of the U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) for six months.
The renewed mandate maintains UNMISS's focus on protecting civilians, monitoring and investigating human rights violations, facilitating humanitarian access, and supporting moves to implement a cessation of hostilities agreement signed in January.
The Security Council included a request in the new mandate for UNMISS to increase its interaction with communities in order to help improve its early warning and response efforts, and head off new violence. It also includes a provision for more female police personnel in the mission. Details as to why more women have been requested were not immediately available.
The new mandate also calls for enhanced efforts by UNMISS to ensure the safety of air operations in South Sudan. An UNMISS helicopter carrying cargo from Wau in Western Bahr el Ghazal to Bentiu in Unity state was shot down in August, killing three of the four Russian crew members on board.

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