South Sudan rebel leader flees country

The UN spokesperson, Farah Haq, said in a daily briefing to journalists in NY on Thursday that Machar was located in the border of South Sudan and DR Congo by the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO).

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.

Riek Machar crossed the border into neighboring Congo and was airlifted to the capital, Kinshasa, spokesman Mabior Garang said, adding that Machar was planning to travel to Ethiopia soon.

South Sudan’s oil production has virtually ground to a halt since a civil war erupted there in December 2013, when President Salva Kiir accused Machar of plotting a coup.

The fight saw over 300 people among them soldiers, killed and thousands fleeing to safer regions. In April, Mr. Machar, accompanied by some 1,000 troops, returned to the capital Juba to resume his post as vice president, following last August’s signing of the power-sharing accord.

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The UN told Kiir that any political changes must be consistent with the peace deal, which stated that the vice president must be chosen by the South Sudan Armed Opposition.

He left to get away from President Salva Kiir’s forces and to ensure he had better media access to explain his position publicly, Gatdet Dak added. South Sudan has not yet accepted the force, saying that deploying it without government approval would be a violation of the country’s sovereignty.

In this Monday, July 25, 2016 photo, a group of children at the United Nations protection of Civilians site in Juba, South Sudan, play with a makeshift gun.

The U.N. document indicates that the recruitment of children took place shortly after the U.N. Security Council a week ago approved sending an additional 4,000 peacekeepers to the East African country to protect civilians after renewed fighting in the capital, Juba, last month.

Half of children in South Sudan do not go to school – the highest proportion in the world, UNICEF said. The agreement has been violated repeatedly by fighting.

South Sudan’s civil war has been characterised by war crimes and human rights abuses with civilians massacred – often along tribal lines – women and girls raped and children forced to become soldiers.