“Why not? We have the capacity to support the government of South Sudan and we were there before”, said the plain-clothed officer accompanying the convoy.
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Uganda’s Foreign Affairs ministry said on Wednesday that several embassies and organisations have evacuated their staff and citizens from South Sudan to the country following fighting between two rival factions in Juba.
Now some 30 Swiss citizens are in South Sudan, most working for worldwide organisations and charities.
Meanwhile, the White House said on Wednesday that it had deployed 47 troops to South Sudan to protect United States citizens and the USA embassy.
The return flights would be only up to New Delhi, the statement said.
South Sudan, Africa’s youngest nation descended into civil war in 2013 after Machar was sacked from President Kiir’s government.
South Sudan, scarred by two years of civil war, has witnessed four days of fierce battles this week fought with heavy weapons, including helicopter gunships, tanks, and artillery between former rebels and government forces.
Today’s meeting comes after days of heightened concern at the United Nations in the wake of the deadly clashes that erupted in and around the capital, Juba, between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those backing First Vice-President Riek Machar.
Germany’s foreign ministry said its air force was evacuating other European nationals, as well as its own citizens.
At least 300 people have been killed and tens of thousands have been forced to leave their homes as a result of the recent fighting.
South Sudanese trying to flee to Uganda by road spoke of attacks, killings and robberies by armed men. Government forces had erected roadblocks to demand money from those fleeing.
No gunfire or artillery was heard in Juba and planes were seen leaving the worldwide airport although commercial flights are yet to resume. “As a result, they are turning to coping mechanisms like looting to survive”, said Jeremiah Young, policy adviser for World Vision.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will arrive in Kigali on Friday for talks on South Sudan with African leaders, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. “There is hardly any food in the market”, he said.
Even though he would not tell the exact location of his boss and forces loyal to him, James Gatdet Dak who is now in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi says Machar is neither returning to the bush or preparing for war.
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Meanwhile, fighting continued to spread to other parts of South Sudan.
