UNITED NATIONS, August 28 (RIA Novosti) - The UN Security Council unanimously agreed Wednesday to Russia's press statement proposal, urging "a swift, through and transparent investigation" into the downing of a UN helicopter, which killed three Russian crew members and injured one in South Sudan.
“The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest term the downing near Bentiu, Unity State, in South Sudan on August 26, 2014 of an UNMISS Mi-8 AMT helicopter performing a cargo flight to the area with four Russian crew members, three of whom were killed and one severely injured,” said in the press statement.
The note “strongly urged the UN Mission in South Sudan and the government of South Sudan to conduct a swift, through and transparent investigation of this attack.”
The members of the Security Council sent their condolences to the families of the crew members and to the Russian and wished full recovery to the injured crew member, who was treated by Doctors Without Borders.
At least one other Russian UNMISS helicopter has been downed in South Sudan before. Such an attack is a grave violation of the Status of Forces Agreement of April 2011 and jeopardizes the UNMISS' operations, the Security Council said.
"The members of Security Council strongly emphasized that those responsible for the attack must be held accountable and all necessary measures to avoid such attacks in the future must be taken. They also requested that UNMISS take additional measures as appropriate to ensure the security of its air operations in South Sudan and report thereon to the Council,” said in the statement.
