South Sudan evacuations continue; some locals turned back

Teams from UNICEF and partners are also working to assess the extent of humanitarian needs and have begun family tracing for children who became separated from their parents as families fled the fighting.

Some say the situation is just too volatile and have expressed relief over their escape. “We have made all arrangements for their evacuation”.

Kiir appeared Thursday with African Union special envoy Alpha Oumar Konare, a former president of Mali, and cease-fire monitoring chief Festus Mogae, the former president of Botswana.

The five-day war between rival troops of Kiir and Machar threatened to throw into disarray a peace agreement signed by the two leaders in Nairobi over an year ago. At the time this raised worries about the conflict widening but the forces withdrew late previous year.

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

“We can clearly see the results of the deliberate attempts by the parties to stall the implementation of the peace agreement, which one should not forget was signed nearly one year ago, in August last year”. Foreign Minister Bert Koenders thanked Germany for its assistance in a statement online and in a message to his German counterpart, saying, “This high-risk operation brought many people to safety”. The violence was especially worrying because it divided South Sudan along ethnic lines.

But President Kiir says greater worldwide intervention is not welcome.

The regional African grouping IGAD has called for the United Nations mission UNMISS to be given a stronger mandate to enforce peace in South Sudan and called for extra troops to keep order.

Ellen Margrethe Loj, who heads the United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, echoed Ladsous’ assessment.

“Why not? We have the capacity to support the government of South Sudan and we were there before”, said the plain- clothed officer accompanying the convoy.

Speaking to reporters at the presidential compound in Juba, President Kiir said he does not want further bloodshed in South Sudan and wants Machar, the country’s top vice president, to come back “so we can chart the way forward”. “We will not accept that”. However, a Ugandan official said the forces would have to extend their stay indefinitely should the fighting continue.

The latest violence marks a fresh blow to last year’s deal for ending the conflict, which erupted when Kiir accused Machar of plotting a coup.

In the meantime, the political sector of Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) held exceptional meeting on Thursday to discuss the developments of the situations in South Sudan.

“Rwanda has peacekeepers in South Sudan and our own troops have been under very extreme circumstances and our peacekeepers have been injured”.