The U.N. mission in South Sudan had “no involvement” in Machar’s departure, he added.
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Tanks shelled and helicopters strafed Juba, the capital city, a few weeks ago in a fight between Mr Kiir’s Dinka tribe and their rival Nuer, led by Riek Machar, the vice-president.
In July, Machar was removed as South Sudan’s first vice president after a disputed change of leadership in his party.
The former rebel leader and former South-Sudanese First Vice President, Riek Machar, has left South Soudan to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a statement from his office said on Thursday.
According to Farhan Haq, a United Nations spokesman, Machar was helped during his evacuation by the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) before he was handed over to the Congolese government. His departure puts South Sudan’s peace deal, reached a year ago under worldwide pressure, into disarray while the country’s humanitarian crisis worsens.
An estimated 16,000 children have been recruited as soldiers since war between the government and rebel groups broke out in December 2013. 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…”
“MONUSCO (the U.N.’s mission in DR Congo) became aware yesterday of the presence of Riek Machar in DRC and the DRC authorities requested MONUSCO to facilitate his extraction and transfer”, Haq told reporters in NY. He has been replaced by another official in his party, Taban Deng, but that appointment has not been accepted by many of Machar’s supporters.
“Without a fully operational humanitarian sector, the consequences for children and their families will be catastrophic”, concluded Forsyth, recently returning from a trip to the country’s capital, Juba, and the northern town of Bentiu.
The UN Security Council last week authorised the deployment of 4,000 additional UN peacekeepers with a stronger mandate after a series of failures to protect civilians, including foreign aid workers, from rape and attack.
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A senior politician appointed by President Salva Kiir was apparently responsible for the recruitment of children of an entire village.
