The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General in South Sudan whose mandate ends today has left the country this afternoon.

Hilde Johnson, who has also been the head of the UN Mission in South Sudan since the country gained independence three years ago, said she has handed over the mission to a new person.

“It is only when you have wedded the storm, and you are in what some calm waters that a captain can dock and hand over to someone else. That is what I am doing now,” she told reporters at JIA.

Madam Johnson urged the government and the people of South Sudan to give peace a priority in order to end the conflict.

Madam Hilde Johnson said the UN Mission in South Sudan has made major achievements in terms of protection offered to civilians since the conflict erupted in mid-December last year.

In July 2011, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Hilde Johnson as his Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan.

Before her appointment by the Ban Ki-Moon, Ms. Johnson served as the Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF

Hilde Johnson earlier served as Minister and member of the Norwegian Government Cabinet from 1997 to 2005 during which she played an instrumental role in the negotiations leading to the completion of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement in 2005.