JUBA, South Sudan – The South Sudanese opposition leader Riek Machar has fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo after being targeted by government troops, his spokesmen said Thursday, as a fragile peace deal to end more than two years of civil war unravels in the world’s youngest country.
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South Sudanese government which had been on the offensive, trying to hunt him down in the bush where he had been hiding said on Friday that it was not aware of Machar’s whereabouts.
The statement, which was signed by armed opposition minister of Information, Mabior Garang, did not specify which country Machar had travelled to, whose location remained unknown since July 2016.
In addition, Boulierac says, a large number of women and girls have been subjected to sexual violence since fighting broke out July 8 in Juba.
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.
The war in South Sudan has been characterised by atrocities committed by both those loyal to President Salva Kiir and those fighting for his former deputy Riek Machar.
Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. South Sudan has not yet accepted the force, saying that deploying it without government approval would be a violation of the country’s sovereignty.
The source said Machar wanted “to go as soon as possible to Ethiopia”.
JUBA South Sudan (Xinhua) – About 37,200 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are seeking protection at one of the two United Nations bases in South Sudan’s capital Juba, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Wednesday. His departure puts South Sudan’s peace deal, reached a year ago under global pressure, into disarray while the country’s humanitarian crisis worsens.
A peace deal signed between the government and rebels nearly a year ago has so far failed to end the conflict.
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.
Mr Gai had told the heads of state Summit in Addis Ababa that he will step down once Dr Machar returns to Juba, otherwise he will continue with the implementation of the August 2015 peace agreement. “The accounts highlight, in raw detail, the failure of the United Nations peacekeeping force to uphold its core mandate of protecting civilians, notably those just a few minutes’ drive away”, the Associated Press reported.
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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.
