Riek Machar, South Sudan’s former vice president and opposition leader, is in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the United Nations has said, weeks after he withdrew from South Sudan’s capital, Juba, during violent clashes with government troops.
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This version corrects to say the press conference was expected later Thursday, not Friday.
A spokesman for Machar on Thursday said the former vice president had escaped to a nearby country.
Machar and many of his supporters fled the capital after last month’s fighting between government and rebel forces, in which hundreds of civilians were killed and fears grew of a return to civil war. At the independence ceremony of South Sudan, held in its capital Juba on July 9, 2011, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon proclaimed that, after years of violence, “we open a new chapter: a day when the people of South Sudan claim the freedom and dignity that are their birthright…”
Political differences between Mr. Machar and Mr. Kiir ignited the civil war in December 2013 – and they only agreed to settle their differences under intense worldwide pressure, signing a peace deal last August.
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According to UNICEF, about 16,000 children have been recruited by armed groups and forces since the crisis in South Sudan first began in December 2013.
In July, Machar was removed as South Sudan’s first vice president after a disputed change of leadership in his party.
The UN official said Mr Machar needed to be airlifted to safety and that he had been given medical assistance. At least 300 victims were killed in the fighting, which the United Nations said involved targeted ethnic killings and rapes, mostly by soldiers loyal to Kiir.
Deng will be accompanied by a delegation of ministers and advisers, South Sudan’s ambassador to Khartoum, Mayan Dout, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The statement did not reveal which country Machar had gone to.
The two men signed peace agreement a year ago and formed a unity government in April, with Machar reinstated as vice president.
Last week, the U.N. Security Council approved a US -sponsored plan to send 4,000 regional peacekeepers to Juba.
This UN base in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, is home to 30,000 displaced people, living in fear of targeted killings by government forces. Juba has not agreed to the deployment of this force.
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The civil war broke out in 2013 and was fought along ethnic lines after Kiir sacked Machar as his vice president for allegedly plotting against him.
