South Sudanese paramilitary and government officials, said today that threats of further US sanctions did not worry them as their sides were not responsible for escalating the conflict situation in the region.

The South Sudanese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman, Mawien Makol Arik, deemed sanctions unnecessary.

The United Nations Security Council will authorise an strengthened peacekeeping force in the Central African Republic, this week, reports the Voice of America.

A resolution calling for the deployment of 10,000 soldiers and 1,500 police officers is expected to be  passed by the UN Security Counc

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) outlined its commitment to protecting and aiding conflict affected civilians in South Sudan.

In  statement released today, the mission expressed concerns over congested displaced civilians and their living conditions.

The mission went on to pledge to work towards providing shelter and improving water and sanitation facilities to mitigate public health risks.

The US Secretary of State John Kerry, today, warned of tougher sanctions should Russia fail to withdraw it’s presence from Ukraine, reports the Associated Press.

Speaking to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry said,

“What we see from Russia is an illegal and illegitimate effort to destabilize a sovereign state and create a contrived crisis with paid operatives across an international boundary.”

The United Nations Human Rights Chief, Navi Pillay, addressing the UN Security council today, outlined that Syrian government crimes outweighed crimes committed by opposition armed forces.

Drawing upon findings from the Syrian Commission of Inquiry, Pillay highlighted that although both parties had been found accountable for crimes, the two could not to be compared, reports Reuters.

At a press conference after the Security Council briefing, Pillay said,

The extradition of a man allegedly involved in the Rwandan genocide was authorised in a Norwegian court today, reports Agence France Presse.

The alleged criminal and former teacher, Eugene Nkuranyabahizi, is suspected of aiding massacres in the Rwandan regions of NKakwa and Cyahinda in April 1994.

A request for Nkuranyabahizi to be extradited was issued by the Rwandan government in August last year after the suspect was detained in Norway.

The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, speaking at the Rwandan genocide memorial events today, said he was ashamed of the way the situation was handled by the international community, stating,

“We could have done so much more. We should have done so much more. In Rwanda, troops were withdrawn when they were most needed.”

Pro-Russian protesters in eastern Ukraine yielded arms in one city and declared a separatist republic in another, as protests broke out in several eastern cities today.

Officials in Kiev told Reuters that the overnight seizure of public buildings in three eastern Ukrainian cities was a repeat of events in Crimea that resulted in the annexation of Crimea.

The Ukrainian Prime Minister, Arseny Yatseniuk, alleged that the protests where orchestrated by Russia, stating,

A leading member of South Sudan’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) called for the international community to place further sanctions on individuals responsible for rights abuses and delaying a solution to the country’s conflict.

Rebecca Nyandeng, welcoming recent US sanctions placed on political actors, speaking to Voice of America, said,