German air force evacuating citizens from South Sudan

Washington said on Wednesday it had deployed 47 troops to South Sudan to protect USA citizens and the embassy in Juba.

Kyanda said the mission would likely last “two to three days”. Nobody was surprised, because the peace deal last August, which ended a two-year civil war that killed tens of thousands across the country, was never very secure.

The Ugandan forces then stayed to help president Salva Kiir in the South Sudanese capital Juba.

The latest bout of violence started after a localised gunfight outside Kiir’s residence in Juba on 7 July when he was holding a meeting with Machar.

This is not an article on South Sudan, which is just as well because the conflicts there are nearly fractal in their complexity.

The fighting has raised fears of a return to the civil war that erupted in late 2013 and broadly ran along ethnic lines, pitting Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, against Machar, a Nuer.

He said the United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, known as UNMISS, was also investigating the incidents, including its own response.

She said that “German, European and worldwide citizens” will be evacuated but said she couldn’t detail the nationalities of non-Germans who will be taken out.

Both Kiir and Machar on Monday called for a cease-fire, which has appeared to hold.

“Further clashes, therefore, can not be ruled out”, Ladsous said.

Kiir said there was no need to add to the 12,000-strong UNMISS force.

United Nations peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said Kiir’s troops were in “full control” of the capital while Machar’s former rebels were “scattered” nearby along the city’s western outskirts.

One of Machar’s spokesmen said the former rebels’ base was “destroyed” and Machar was “a vice-president in hiding” not far from Juba.

Whatever the short-term challenges facing Sudan, analysts argue that it has fundamental strengths that still hold the promise of a bright future, such as a rich array of natural resources and significant support among worldwide partners, some of whom regard it as an important ally in the fight against transnational terrorism, while others see it more through the prism of trade.

“He’s trying to survive”.

One of the dual citizens said that if they are allowed to leave as USA citizens, the authorities confiscate their South Sudanese passports.

“I gave these assurances that I am ready to protect Dr. Machar if he comes to where I am and I am ready to protect any minister of SPLM-IO, any senior officers who may feel that they are vulnerable” he noted.

Kenya Airways will resume its usual two daily flights to Juba from today. The Swiss foreign ministry has repeatedy urged Swiss nationals to leave the country and has discouraged trips there since 2013.