UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday announced the appointment of Major General (retired) Patrick Cammaert of the Netherlands to lead an independent Special Investigation into the violence in Juba, the capital South Sudan, in July 2016, and the response of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
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His opposition SPLM/IO army has battled government forces loyal to President Salva Kiir since July 11. This past month, deadly clashes in once-stable Wau resulted in the deaths of more than 40 people, while up to 35,000 fled their homes.
“Machar’s health is stable now and he will remain in the country under comprehensive healthcare until he leaves to a destination of his choice to complete his treatment”, he added.
Osman, the Sudan government spokesman, said Machar had been received “recently” in Sudan but did not give details on when or how he entered the country.
South Sudan officials said they were considering the United Nations proposal.
Machar’s spokesman in Nairobi, James Gatdet Dak, could not immediately confirm he had travelled to Khartoum.
Aides of Marchar confirmed last week that he had left South Sudan and was in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
“Sudan has received, lately, Dr. Riek Machar, for pure humanitarian reasons, especially his need for treatment and medical care”, Information Minister Ahmed Bilal Osman said. The United Nations said it had arranged for its peacekeeping mission in Congo to fly Machar to a safe place away from the Congo-South Sudan border and that Machar was in the hands of Congolese authorities.
UN compounds and UNMISS-managed civilian protection sites were attacked during the fighting and, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, a preliminary UN investigation into the violence and its aftermath revealed that Government security forces carried out killings and rapes, and looted and destroyed properties.
South Sudan descended into civil war after Kiir dismissed Machar as his deputy in 2013.
Despite the August 2015 peace agreement that formally ended the war, conflict and instability have also spread to previously unaffected areas in the Greater Equatoria and Greater Bahr-El-Ghazal regions of South Sudan. Under that deal, Machar returned to Juba in April to resume his role as vice president.
The UN Security Council voted on Friday to authorise sending an extra 4,000 troops to the country to bolster the existing UN mission.
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South Sudan is estimated to produce around 150,000 barrels of oil a day – down from 350,000 at independence in 2011.
