South Sudan accepts UN peacekeepers with no conditions

FILE - In this Monday, Dec. 30, 2013 file photo, a United Nations armored vehicle passes displaced people walking towards the U.N. camp in Malakal, South Sudan. Minister of Cabinet Affairs Martin Lomuro said Saturday, Nov. 26, 2016, that the government has accepted to have with "no conditions" an increased peacekeeping force as mandated by the U.N. Security Council in August. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Friday, Sept. 2, 2016 file photo, United Nations peacekeepers from Rwanda wait to escort members of the U.N. Security Council as they arrive at the airport in the capital Juba, South Sudan. Minister of Cabinet Affairs Martin Lomuro said Saturday, Nov. 26, 2016 that the government has accepted to have with "no conditions" an increased peacekeeping force as mandated by the U.N. Security Council in August. (AP Photo/Justin Lynch, File) (The Associated Press)

JUBA, South Sudan – A top South Sudan official says the government has accepted to have with "no conditions" an increased peacekeeping force as mandated by the U.N. Security Council in August.

Minister of Cabinet Affairs Martin Lomuro told the Associated Press on Saturday that South Sudan's Cabinet unanimously decided to agree to the enlarged peacekeeping force.

The agreement ends a three-month limbo over whether the peacekeeping force could be increased and eliminates a potential showdown with the U.N. Security Council. South Sudan already has 12,000 U.N. peacekeepers.

The additional peacekeepers were ordered by the U.N. Security Council after fighting killed hundreds of people in the capital, Juba, in July, and set off fighting across the country.

President Salva Kiir's government had objected to the additional peacekeepers.