South Sudan’s former rebel leader and ex-vice president Riek Machar has left the country following violent clashes last month and is now in a “safe” country in the region, his aides said. But Haq said Machar was extracted from an area close to the border with South Sudan.
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He said the U.N. Mission in South Sudan played no part in Machar’s arrival in the DRC.
According to the Associated Press news agency, the United Nations had indicated Mr Machar was in danger and had assisted him.
The U.N. on Thursday said its Congolese mission, known as Monusco, transferred Mr. Machar within the DRC once he had made his way to the border with South Sudan.
Around 200,000 refugees in Uganda will have their food rations or cash assistance reduced by 50 percent from this week due to lack of fund, UN Deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said here on Wednesday. “He needed to be moved safely from one spot to another”, he added.
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”.
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. Dozes of his bodyguards were shot dead in the July fighting after gunfire erupted outside the presidential compound where Machar was meeting with Kiir about recent tensions.
Tens of thousands of people were killed in the fighting and more than two million people were displaced.
Newly appointed South Sudan First Vice President, Taban Deng Gai (C) speaks during a press conference on August 17, 2016 in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
The warning from Unicef comes after the government rejected the UN Security Council’s proposal of deploying 4,000 additional troops for peacekeeping efforts in conflict-hit Juba.
Majority Leader Aden Duale has moved a special motion seeking Parliament’s approval to deploy KDF troops in South Sudan as a “matter of urgency” as requested the United Nations .
At least 16,000 children have been recruited into armed groups in South Sudan since December 2013.
The escape of Machar to Congo is likely to be a sensitive issue in Juba because he still claims to be the legitimate first vice president.
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A peace deal was signed between the two leaders in 2015, but has since been repeatedly violated repeatedly by fighting.
