Rwanda, Kenya and Ethiopia are preparing a military force to intervene in South Sudan, an Ethiopian official said Friday.
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The C-17 plane from South Sudan’s capital city Juba with Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh escorting the evacuees, including two Nepali citizens, made a brief halt in Thiruvanathapuram.
“We definitely hope that people who wish to leave South Sudan, regardless of their nationality, for their own safety are able to do so without hindrance”, said the spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Stephane Dujarric. The outbreaks of violence in, for example, Angola ( 1993 ) and Rwanda ( 1994 ), followed failures in implementation of peace deal processes to end the then ongoing conflicts.
“Indians in South Sudan – Pls move out”.
The State Department acknowledged that some people had been barred from boarding a chartered flight.
After a shaky ceasefire was agreed, President Kiir said: Making South Sudan glorious will only happen if we see ourselves as South Sudanese first rather than tribal or political groupings, which is the sort of thing that leaders are obliged to say after a pointless clash like this.
Deepmala Mahla, the South Sudan country director for the aid group Mercy Corps, said there was a worrying lack of food and water for residents who had fled their homes in fear.
Four days of intense battles last week between soldiers loyal to President Salva Kiir and former rebels backing Vice President Riek Machar left hundreds dead in Juba and prompted more than 40 000 to flee their homes.
Both Kiir and Machar on Monday called for a cease-fire, which has appeared to hold.
United Nations official urged the Security Council to urgently consider imposing an arms embargo on South Sudan, stressing that they can no longer afford to sit idle as the people of South Sudan bear the brunt of the intransigence of their leaders.
Even though, Shyam’s parents have only the faintest idea of the bloodshed taking place in the NorthEast African nation, they are mighty relieved and indeed happy that their son has got back unharmed. There are more than 550 Indians at Juba and another 150 around the areas where the oil wells are located.
The first IAF C17 Globemaster aircraft landed in Juba along with VK Singh, who met South Sudanese foreign affairs minister, Deng Alor Kuol. A civil war that began in December 2013 came a few months after Kiir dismissed Machar as his deputy.
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With thousands of newly displaced people in immediate need of health care, water and sanitation, and the rainy season increasing the chance of waterborne and infectious disease spreading, Juba is in need of assistance more than ever.
