UN Evacuates 300 S Sudan Opposition Members to DR Congo
Local Editor
The United Nations announced that its peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo evacuated nearly 300 supporters of South Sudan's opposition leader Riek Machar, many of them wounded or malnourished.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric stated on Friday that the armed militants and civilians crossed into DR Congo from South Sudan with Machar, who was evacuated from Garamba National Park with his wife, son and 10 aides on August 17, AFP reported.
According to Dujarric, the UN mission evacuated some 300 of Machar's followers from Garamba Park in northeast Congo near the border with South Sudan between August 24 and September 5 on humanitarian grounds since many of them were either injured, acutely malnourished or in life-threatening conditions.
He further added that the UN peacekeepers, known as MONUSCO, handed 117 individuals including Machar, his spouse and son to Congolese authorities.
The UN spokesman then noted that as of Thursday there were an additional 183 individuals in two MONUSCO-run facilities, where they are getting medical treatment or recovering while Congolese and South Sudanese work on a longer-term solution to the persisting conflict.
Dujarric also stated the UN is making efforts to promote a solution between authorities in both African nations and "regional actors" regarding the presence of South Sudanese opposition fighters in Congo.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011, but it was soon hit by a major civil war that began in December 2013 when government forces loyal to President Salva Kiir battled rebels led by Machar, his former deputy.
At least 50,000 people have been killed in the fighting and over two million people have been displaced.
Even after a peace deal reached in August 2015 established a unity government, it has been violated regularly by continued fighting.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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