Category: Sudan

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sought urgently on Monday to nearly double the size of the U.N. peacekeeping force in South Sudan, while rebel leader Riek Machar and President Salva Kiir both indicated they were ready to talk to try to end a deepening conflict that has killed hundreds of people. A government official, however, said South Sudan would not meet Machar’s demand that detained opposition leaders be released. Ban asked the U.N. Security Council to send 5,500 more peacekeepers to South Sudan as soon as possible to protect civilians from the growing violence in the world’s newest country. There are now some 6,700 U.N. troops and 670 police officers making up the U.N. force in South Sudan. The 15-member council met to discuss the crisis and is due to vote on a resolution approving the increase in peacekeeping troops on Tuesday. "As long as these […]

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Rebel forces loyal to deposed South Sudanese Vice President Riek Machar said they captured crude-producing Unity state as the government evacuated some oil workers and plans a partial shutdown of facilities. Fighters led by General James Kong Chol seized Bentiu, the state capital, and other parts of the northern region on Dec. 21 and have aligned themselves with Machar, Chol said in a phone interview yesterday. It’s the second state to fall to anti-government forces after President Salva Kiir’s administration lost control of Bor, capital of Jonglei province, to a group headed by General Peter Gatdet Yak on Dec. 18. Chol and Yak previously headed government forces in the two states. “We’re controlling the area of Unity state,” Chol said from Bentiu. “My government planned to kill me and I have nowhere to go. I decided to join Riek Machar.” Fighting broke out […]

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New details are emerging of alleged ethnic killings committed during more than a week of violence in South Sudan. A reporter in the capital Juba quoted witnesses as saying more than 200 people, mostly from the Nuer ethnic group, were shot by security forces. Another man in Juba reported that gunmen from the Dinka tribe were shooting people in Nuer districts who did not speak the Dinka language. South Sudan’s government has denied it is behind any ethnic violence. The reports emerged as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on the Security Council to add 5,500 UN troops to the 7,000-strong force in South Sudan. Rebels supporting sacked former vice-president Riek Machar have seized major towns over the past week. Tens of thousands of people have fled the fighting. ‘Eyewitness account’ The journalist […]

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New details are emerging of alleged ethnic killings committed during more than a week of violence in South Sudan. A reporter in the capital Juba quoted witnesses as saying more than 200 people, mostly from the Nuer ethnic group, were shot by security forces. Another man in Juba reported that gunmen from the Dinka tribe were shooting people in Nuer districts who did not speak the Dinka language. South Sudan’s government has denied it is behind any ethnic violence. The reports emerged as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on the Security Council to add 5,500 UN troops to the 7,000-strong force in South Sudan. Rebels supporting sacked former vice-president Riek Machar have seized major towns over the past week. Tens of thousands of people have fled the fighting. ‘Eyewitness account’ The journalist […]

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Two United Nations peacekeepers were killed in an assault on their base in South Sudan along with 20 civilians who were sheltering there. They were the first U.N. casualties in a week of violence that has spread from the capital to energy-producing regions, spurring Beijing to move to evacuate some Chinese oil workers. What began Sunday night as a clash between army factions has spiraled into nationwide ethnic fighting that threatens to chase away foreign oil companies and choke the lifeblood of the fledgling nation’s economy. Some 500 people have been killed and more than 30,000 forced from their homes. Many civilians, including hundreds of oil workers, have sought shelter in bases belonging to the U.N. peacekeeping mission, which has reported fighting in six of the country’s 10 states. The U.N. said Friday that its base in the town of Akobo, in Jonglei state, had been attacked overnight "by […]

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Thousands of people have fled to UN compounds in South Sudan to escape clashes between army factions The crisis in South Sudan , which has left hundreds dead, has started to hit global oil supplies, compounding the effects of production losses in Nigeria and Libya and putting upward pressure on […]

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; American citizens were evacuated from a contested area of South Sudan on Sunday after a local rebel commander provided assurances that there would be no interference, Western officials said. The evacuation, which involved about 15 Americans, was carried out by helicopter from the United Nations compound in Bor, in Jonglei State, which is surrounded by 2,000 armed youths. It came one day after American Special Operations forces tried to evacuate the Americans there, only to turn back after the three Osprey aircraft being used for the mission ran into heavy small-arms fire. Four American service members were wounded in that episode . “We were able to evacuate all Americans who presented themselves at the U.N. camp in Bor,” a State Department official said. “We will continue to work to confirm whether there are any remaining American citizens in Bor who need to be evacuated.” The Sunday evacuation […]

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South Sudan will need $1.1 billion of humanitarian aid in 2014 after violence in the past week displaced 62,000 people, the United Nations said. The escalating crisis in South Sudan makes it “crucial that aid agencies get money needed to respond early in the year,” UN Assistant Secretary-General Toby Lanzer said on his Twitter page from Juba, capital of the nation that was split off from Sudan in 2011, becoming independent. The fighting in South Sudan, which broke out on Dec. 15, has already claimed as many as 500 lives, including UN peacekeepers. A rebel force linked to deposed Vice President Riek Machar and led by General James Kong Chol last week captured Bor, the capital of Jonglei state, and said it has taken control of the oil-rich nation. Machar, who is being hunted by security forces, has called for President Salva Kiir to step down for failing to […]

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The acting governor of oil-rich Unity state in South Sudan said at least 16 people were killed during clashes there between oil workers and rival tribes. Acting Unity state Gov. Mabaek Lang De Mading said hundreds of people have fled the area to U.N. safe havens and more than a dozen were killed after clashes erupted in the oil-rich state, the independent Sudan Tribune reports. The Sudanese newspaper said oil workers used spears, knives and sticks during the melee with tribal groups. Conflict erupted in South Sudan this week when Salva Kiir, the country’s president, accused former Vice President Riek Machar of staging a coup. South Sudan is the world’s newest nation. When it gained independence from Sudan in 2011, the landlocked country gained control over much of the oil producing regions but Sudan maintained its grip on export infrastructure. Chinese government […]

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Two United Nations peacekeepers were killed in an assault on their base in South Sudan along with 20 civilians who were sheltering there. They were the first U.N. casualties in a week of violence that has spread from the capital to energy-producing regions, spurring Beijing to move to evacuate some Chinese oil workers. What began Sunday night as a clash between army factions has spiraled into nationwide ethnic fighting that threatens to chase away foreign oil companies and choke the lifeblood of the fledgling nation’s economy. Some 500 people have been killed and more than 30,000 forced from their homes. Many civilians, including hundreds of oil workers, have sought shelter in bases belonging to the U.N. peacekeeping mission, which has reported fighting in six of the country’s 10 states. The U.N. said Friday that its base in the town of Akobo, in Jonglei state, had been attacked overnight "by […]

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