South Sudan has been experiencing a fight between soldiers loyal to president Salva Kiir and sacked Vice President Riek Machar.
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The United Nations in South Sudan has been conducting a fact-finding investigation and Ban called for an independent probe based on its preliminary findings.
Mr Machar has crossed the border into neighbouring Congo after weeks in hiding and, according to a posting by his spokesman on Facebook, a “botched attempt to assassinate” him. Machar’s flight from South Sudan could give him more visibility and increase pressure on the worldwide community to send in the regional peacekeepers.
In this Monday, July 25, 2016 photo, a group of children at the United Nations protection of Civilians site in Juba, South Sudan, play with a makeshift gun.
The news on Thursday came after a statement by the leadership of the SPLA In Opposition party said Machar had left South Sudan on Wednesday to a “safe country within the region”, without giving any further details on his exact whereabouts.
Machar had returned to South Sudan in April in a major step toward realizing a peace deal reached in August 2015 under intense worldwide pressure.
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the DRC became aware of Machar’s presence in the country on Wednesday and contacted the Congolese government, who then asked the mission to extract Machar from his location, U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters in NY. South Sudan has not yet accepted the force, saying that deploying it without government approval would be a violation of the country’s sovereignty. Its mission in Juba declined to comment on whether it had any part in evacuating Mr. Machar, but the mission has maintained its full impartiality throughout the conflict.
Separately, UNICEF says at least 650 children have joined armed groups in South Sudan this year alone.
Last week, the U.N. Security Council voted to send 4,000 additional peacekeepers to South Sudan with a strengthened mandate to provide security.
August 2015: The president signs an internationally-mediated peace deal under which, Machar will return as vice-president.
Last month’s fighting in Juba bought “horrific ordeals” as government soldiers executed civilians and gang-raped women and girls, said UNICEF.
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“We know with peace comes an end to nutritional challenges, the start of education, an end to cholera, it’s just a game-changer that puts the South Sudanese on the right path.” said James Elder.
