“The reason [the troops] are here is to provide me and my team with support so we can continue to help resolve the crisis and provide humanitarian assistance to the people of South Sudan”, Ambassador Phee added.
Advertisement
As per the preparation of the airlift, Indian Embassy in South Sudan has alerted Indians in Juba about the evacuation plans which will begin on July 14, 2016.
Embassies and aid organizations in South Sudan were trying to evacuate staff from the capital, Juba, on Tuesday as a precarious calm settle.
South Sudan’s vice president Riek Machar has withdrawn with his troops to outside of Juba but is not planning for war, his spokesman said on Wednesday, as a ceasefire that ended heavy fighting with President Salva Kiir’s forces entered a third day.
“These deployed personnel will remain in South Sudan until the security situation becomes such that their presence is no longer needed”, the White House said in a statement.
“Although equipped for combat, these additional personnel are deployed for the objective of protecting USA citizens and property”, Obama said in his letter to Congress. The Swiss foreign ministry has repeatedly urged Swiss nationals to leave the country and has discouraged trips there since 2013.
The German foreign ministry said that three Transall transport aircraft of Germany’s Bundeswehr were airlifting “German, European and global citizens” to Uganda.
Displaced refugees are said to be robbed and killed by armed militias as they try to flee. Many cars had been shot at or burned.
Machar’s forces have fled the capital to an undisclosed location. Some people were sent back to Juba.
The U.S. envoy in the region, Andrew Burnett, told VOA that senior U.S. officials also are working with leaders in South Sudan to end the fighting there.
The Security Council is considering a request from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to place an arms embargo on South Sudan and to ratchet up sanctions on individuals accused of hindering the peace process, but diplomats reported no progress on sanctions following Wednesday’s meeting. They also delivered food to more than 3,500 people hiding in two churches.
Relief workers should be given freedom of movement, said the UN’s humanitarian coordinator South Sudan Eugene Owusu.
After days of bloodshed in South Sudan, an uneasy truce is in effect in the world’s youngest nation, where soldiers slaughtered dozens last week.
United Nations spokeswoman Shantal Persaud said there had be reports of small-arms fire at Leer, a small town in Unity State, which is Machar’s birthplace. The town is Machar’s birthplace.
Advertisement
Associated Press writers Charlton Doki in Kampala, Uganda, and Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed.
