UN Security Council extends South Sudan peacekeeping mission

The United Nations Security Council voted on Thursday to extend the mandate of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) until April 30, 2026.

The resolution was passed with 12 votes in favor, none against, and three abstentions from China, Russia, and Pakistan.

Following the vote, China's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Sun Lei, explained the country's position.

Emphasizing China's continued support for South Sudan's peace process, Sun pointed out that the current draft resolution went beyond the scope of the mandate, forcing China to abstain.

"Regrettably, the resolution just adopted contains a lot of elements that exert excessive pressure on South Sudan. These are not related to the extension of the mission, nor are they in line with South Sudan's realities," Sun said.

Sun criticized the penholder country for delaying consultations and forcibly pushing to vote while disagreements remained unresolved. He urged the penholder to to take an objective and a fair approach, to effectively show their due responsibilities and to make genuine efforts to maintain the unity of the Council and to forge the broadest possible consensus.

Sun also noted that as the UN's youngest member state, South Sudan has made unremitting efforts in recent years to advance peace and improve national governance. He asked the international community to fully take into account South Sudan's development stage and the challenges it faces.

Sun stressed that issues such as elections, finance, and resource management are all South Sudan's internal affairs and should be determined by its government and people.

He urged full respect for South Sudan's sovereignty and its autonomy, cautioning against the imposition of external solutions or interference in South Sudan's internal affairs.

UN Security Council extends South Sudan peacekeeping mission

The death toll from a landfill collapse in the central Philippine city of Cebu has risen to eight by Monday morning as search and rescue operations continued for another 28 missing people.

The landfill collapse occurred on Thursday as dozens of sanitation workers were working at the site. The disaster has already caused injuries of 18 people.

Family members of the missing people said the rescue progress is slow, and the hope for the survival of their loved ones is fading.

"For me, maybe I’ve accepted the worst result already because the garbage is poisonous and yesterday, it was raining very hard the whole day. Maybe they’ve been poisoned. For us, alive or dead, I hope we can get their bodies out of the garbage rubble," said Maria Kareen Rubin, a family member of a victim.

Families have set up camps on high ground near the landfill, awaiting news of their relatives. Some people at the site said cries for help could still be heard hours after the landfill collapsed, but these voices gradually faded away.

Bienvenido Ranido, who lost his wife in the disaster, said he can't believe all that happened.

"After they gave my wife oxygen, my kids and I were expecting that she would be saved that night because she was still alive. But the night came and till the next morning, they didn't manage to save her," he said.

Death toll in central Philippine landfill collapse rises to eight