South Sudan’s rebel leader has fled the country and was expected to emerge after weeks in hiding later Thursday to speak to the press, a spokesman said.
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MONUSCO was informed yesterday of Machar’s presence in the DRC and the Congolese authorities requested they facilitate his evacuation and transfer. Machar’s wife and 10 others were also transported in an operation to which the leader consented, Haq said.
A member of his opposition SPLA-IO party told the BBC that he was en route to Ethiopia, via the Democratic Republic of Congo, but earlier media reports said he was in Tanzania or Chad. “We’re not in a position to confirm his location”, Haq said.
Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) spokesman Mabior Garang de Mabior said the warlord “has now been safely evacuated to a safe country within the region”.
In this photo from April 29, 2016, South Sudan’s then First Vice President Riek Machar, left, looks across at President Salva Kiir, as the two sit to be photographed following the first meeting of a new transitional coalition government.
According to statement from UN Secretary-General received in Juba on Thursday, the UN chief was alarmed by the preliminary findings of an investigation into the attack on Hotel Terrain on July 11, in which one person was killed and several civilians were raped and brutally beaten.
But fighting flared last month, leading Machar to withdraw with his forces from Juba around mid-July.
The split between Machar and President Salva Kiir in 2013 prompted the country’s long descent into civil war, which has left tens of thousands dead.
Ateny Wek Ateny, presidential spokesman, said the government will accept the force, but only if it can negotiate its size, mandate, weapons and the contributing countries.
A United Nations peacekeeping force has been deployed in South Sudan since 2011.
Machar led a rebellion against his rival President Salva Kiir before a peace deal installed him as vice president previous year.
Most were freed by the South Sudan Democratic Army (SSDA) Cobra Faction after its leader David Yau Yau signed a 2014 peace deal with the government.
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Both sides in South Sudan’s conflict have repeatedly promised to address allegations of child recruitment, but they continue such recruitment efforts.
