Reports suggest that more than one in five people from South Sudan’s 11 million people fled their homes because of the ethnic war.
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South Sudan’s former vice-president Riek Machar has fled the country after his office accused soldiers controlled by President Salvar Kiir of “using every type of weapon in their possession in South Sudan to eliminate him”. This news story is related to Latest/143704-More-children-forced-to-fight-in-South-Sudan-says-UNICEF/ – breaking news, latest news, pakistan ne.
Haq told a regular briefing at the United Nations headquarters in NY that Machar was now at an unspecified location in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but declined to elaborate on why Machar had needed medical attention.
United Nations spokesman Farhan Haq said Thursday that Congolese authorities had asked the world body’s mission in DRC (MONUSCO) to facilitate the transfer of Machar and his family from a location near the border with South Sudan to a safe place.
MONUSCO was informed yesterday of Machar’s presence in the DRC and the Congolese authorities requested they facilitate his evacuation and transfer. “He needed to be moved safely from one spot to another”, he added.
A spokesman for the DRC’s government, Lambert Mende, denied it had been in touch with anyone about helping the former South Sudanese vice president. South Sudan rejected the accusations.
Since the outbreak of civil war, children have been recruited at an expedited rate to protect their communities, according to Joseph Manytuel, the governor of Northern Leich state.
But tensions remained as the recently warring camps were pushed to work together under the peace deal.
However, renewed fighting erupted in July, killing hundreds of people and forcing Machar’s troops out of Juba.
Fighting broke out again in early July between troops loyal to both men in Juba, in a move the global community says would return the young nation back to an all-out civil war.
In his absence, Machar last month was replaced as first vice president after a disputed change of leadership in his party. Machar says he will return to Juba only after a regional peacekeeping force arrives and secures Juba.
The UN Security Council authorized on Friday the deployment of 4,000 UN soldiers in addition to 13,500 peacekeepers already in the country, and to ensure safety in Juba and deter attacks against UN bases. The government has not yet accepted the force, saying that deploying it without South Sudan’s approval would be a violation of the country’s sovereignty.
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An estimated 16,000 children have been recruited by armed groups – including the national army – since civil war began in December 2013.
