President Kenyatta sues for Peace in South Sudan

At least 300 people were killed and 42,000 fled their homes this month during four days of intense gun battles in the capital of South Sudan, the United Nations said July 15.

Will a regional military force be deployed?

The Secretary-General urged South Sudan President Salva Kiir and First Vice-President Riek Machar to show “true leadership and to live up to the aspirations of their people to peace and security”. “Why do you need more forces?” he asked.

In addition, Ban met with the President of Uganda, Yoweri Kabuta Museveni, on the situation in South Sudan.

“Juba airport is still closed and the main road to Nimule is closed too, however, security has gone in to clear the road and has sent in 30 trucks that are going to evacuate Ugandans through the Eastern Route of South Sudan”, she said. South Sudan ambassador to Kenya Chol Mawut Unguec Ajonga asked rhetorically in an interview with the BBC last week.

The website said that the evacuation consisted of four flights of about 50 people each from Juba to Entebbe in the Ugandan capital as the route.

The London-based rights group said that two airlines had been ordered not to carry South Sudanese nationals, especially men. The US has taken such actions against four of those individuals.

Kiir and Machar are longtime rivals, jostling for power even before South Sudan’s independence from Sudan in 2011. In that respect, they emphasized the role of IGAD and of African leaders.

In Machar’s absence from Juba some top opposition leaders, such as Taban Deng Gai, have said they can negotiate without him, raising the possibility of further splits. Kiir, who says he has spoken to Machar, has called for a meeting to salvage peace.

A ceasefire agreed last week is holding.

“The president gave us his version of what led to this regrettable confrontation while the vice president on his part also expressed a willingness to meet with the president, provided his security was assured”, Mogae said.

It could also be hard to prevent both the government and rebel forces from acquiring additional weapons in transfers across South Sudan’s porous borders, experts warn. “But to be arrested in South Sudan?”

Other researchers surpport that view.

President Barack Obama on Friday said he would deploy up to 200 US troops equipped with combat equipment to South Sudan to protect USA citizens and the embassy in Juba amid an outbreak of violence between rival troops in the nation. “The opposite has been the case” with the South Sudan army and its political wing, he commented in an interview.