http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/06/world/africa/south-sudan-un-peacekeepers.html 2016-09-05 13:42:04 South Sudan to Accept Additional U.N. Peacekeepers An American official warned there was only so much the troops could do in a country beleaguered by massacres, rapes and the destruction of food supplies. === UKUNDA, Kenya — Under intense pressure, In the two and a half years since civil war erupted, South Sudan has been the scene of atrocities including civilian massacres, the forcing of children into militias, the burning of emergency food supplies and the widespread rape of women and girls, including On Sunday night, during a visit by the United Nations Security Council to Juba, South Sudan’s capital, the government agreed to add 4,000 peacekeepers to its existing protection force of 14,000. Top American officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry and African nations had also supported the move, though South Sudan’s government had claimed that it would be an affront to its sovereignty. Shortly after the decision was made public, Ms. Power said that South Sudan’s government was weak in terms of the rule of law and warned that the peacekeeping force would not be a “panacea.” “There’s a huge amount of criminality going on,” she said. “I also wouldn’t minimize the underlying ethnic, tribal, political conflicts that are plaguing this country and that a peacekeeping mission alone cannot solve.” South Sudan, the world’s newest country, jubilantly won its independence from Sudan in 2011 after decades of guerrilla struggle. But in 2013 the country exploded into civil war after a row between the top two political leaders, who belong to different ethnic groups. The conflict ripped across the country like a lit fuse. Many South Sudanese had been hoping their government would allow in more peacekeepers to supplement the United Nations soldiers, police and military observers already in the country, which is slightly smaller than Texas. Ms. Power said that United Nations bases were directly protecting 200,000 civilians. But many analysts are skeptical about And the United Nations officials are planning to deploy the additional peacekeepers in South Sudanese leaders did not explain their about-face on Sunday, except to say that they had given their consent to the additional troops “to improve the security situation.” It is not clear when the new peacekeepers will arrive; United Nations officials are hoping to deploy them as soon as possible.