Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) spokesman Mabior Garang de Mabior said the warlord “has now been safely evacuated to a safe country within the region”. And in August Juba was rocked by several days of heavy fighting between Kiir’s forces and those loyal to Machar. Machar’s residence was destroyed, and he and his troops were driven from the capital.
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Machar has said he would not return to Juba until a regional force is deployed in the capital to help restore calm.
Gai said he would work with Kiir to bring peace to South Sudan.
“Aside from avoiding capture, getting out of the country was the only way he could attempt to rebuild support within his constituency and remind the global community that he is still relevant to the peace process”, Ajak said from Cambridge, England.
The UN’s peacekeeping mission cooperated with the DRC to move him out of a border region, according to UN spokesman Farhan Haq.
“MONUSCO was informed yesterday (Wednesday) of Machar’s presence in the DRC and the Congolese authorities requested MONUSCO to facilitate his evacuation and transfer”. The government asked them to facilitate the group’s transfer from an area near the DRC-South Sudan border to a location inside Congo which the United Nations has not revealed. “We’re not in a position to confirm his location”, Haq said.
Civil war broke out in South Sudan in late 2013 when President Salva Kiir accused Machar, his former deputy, of plotting a coup.
Weeks later, Kiir formally replaced him as first vice president with Taban Deng Gai, a former Machar ally.
Tens of thousands of people were killed in the fighting and more than two million people were displaced.
Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman said that the United Nations chief is alarmed by reports of the July 11 attack on a compound popular with foreigners in Juba.
Last week, the U.N. Security Council approved a USA -sponsored plan to send 4,000 regional peacekeepers to Juba.
The International Crisis Group said it could lead to a partially implemented truce that favors Mr. Kiir’s government, which in turn could produce “relative stability” in Juba but “perpetual conflicts elsewhere” in the country.
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Mr. Kiir, whose forces now fully control the capital, has sought to consolidate his power, replacing Mr. Machar with Taban Deng Gai and calling for early elections, despite pleas from the worldwide community.
