The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) on Tuesday called on South Sudan leaders to allow unhindered access to mission patrols to protect the civilian population.
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It was not clear what caused the latest rift between the two men who have long jostled for power, even before South Sudan’s independence from Sudan in 2011.
Following four days of intense battles in Juba that left hundreds dead and forced around 40,000 to flee, a tense ceasefire has been in place since Monday but the United Nations has warned that violence could erupt again.
Fighting between rival South Sudanese troops began a week ago in the capital Juba.
South Sudan descended into war in December 2013 after President Salva Kiir fired his deputy Riek Machar, unleashing a wave of violence that has left tens of thousands dead.
Around 200 people, including the hundred or so Germans living in South Sudan, were evacuated to Uganda by the German Air Force.
The troops were airlifted into the country Tuesday as part of an effort to evacuate US personnel. Why do you need more forces?
But the United Nations has said more than 40,000 fled their homes in the latest fighting to seek shelter at United Nations and other sites in Juba.
The calm was welcomed by Juba residents who have stayed mostly indoors for days as fighting intensified between Kiir’s government forces and former rebels loyal to Machar.
Junior foreign minister VK Singh will be part of India’s Sankat Mochan operation that will fly into Juba, South Sudan, today, to evacuate Indian nationals stuck in the country’s civil war.
Speaking to reporters at the presidential compound in Juba, President Kiir said he does not want further bloodshed in South Sudan and wants Machar, the country’s top vice president, to come back “so we can chart the way forward”. In 2013, they had entered at Kiir’s invitation to support his government as well help with evacuation, Opondo said.
“I am relieved that everyone was able to evacuate safely”, Mitsuaki Furukawa, head of JICA’s South Sudan office, said at an airport in Nairobi.
Kiir is from the Dinka tribe and Machar a Nuer.
The mission, United Nations agencies and funds are preparing for the temporary relocation of non-critical staff from Juba after two peacekeepers were injured in the fighting, and United Nations and other global non-governmental organizations’ premises were targeted by government soldiers, she said.
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It should be recalled that Kiir and Machar have always been political and military rivals.
