Ugandan citizens living in South Sudan pack their belongings at a closed market serving as a temporary camp as they wait to be evacuated by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) soldiers in Juba, South Sudan, July 15, 2016.
Advertisement
Also on Wednesday, the UN under-secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, Herve Ladsous, told the UN Security Council that the fighting between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those backing First Vice-President Riek Machar made the movement of UNMISS hard although the Mission was able to conduct limited patrolling.
The United States military in Africa has deployed 47 troops described by President Barack Obama as “equipped for combat” to protect American personnel and facilities in Juba, the capital of civil-war-ravaged South Sudan, the White House and U.S. Africa Command have announced.
Earlier briefing reporters, MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the aim is to evacuate all the Indian nationals who have expressed their interest in leaving.
But there are new reports that South Sudan authorities are blocking some citizens, including those with US or Canadian dual nationality, from leaving the country.
So far, almost 300 Indians have registered with the Indian embassy for evacuation, official sources said. The United Nations said that a total of at least 36,000 people have fled their homes in Juba since the latest bout of fighting erupted, while three quarters of the population need humanitarian aid.
South Sudan President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar appealed for calm after days of heavy fighting between their soldiers.
“We plan to go to Juba to extract 3,000 Ugandans stranded by fighting, but that number may grow as we will evacuate anyone who wants to leave of any nationality”, said army chief Brigadier Leopold Kyanda.
The World Food Program said it was outraged by the looting of its main warehouse in Juba, which had held more than 4,500 metric tons of food as well as trucks, generators and other supplies for countrywide operations.
The UN’s Permanent Representative of South Sudan, Akuei Bona Malwal, says the fighting is part of the country’s learning process.
“We remain very anxious about the potential for the resumption of violence and spill-over into other parts of the country”, said Ladsous.
South Sudanese voted for independence from Sudan under a peace agreement in 2011.
Advertisement
Even before the resurgence of violence in the past week, hundreds of thousands of refugees had been sheltering in Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia and elsewhere since civil war began in December 2013. They signed a peace deal in August 2015 and then argued over details amid sporadic fighting.
