Thursday, July 14, 2016

Ugandan army crosses into S Sudan to evacuate citizens

A heavily-armed Ugandan military convoy has crossed into South Sudan to evacuate citizens trapped by recent fighting in the capital, Juba, according to officials.

The operation comes a day after the United Nations warned of the possibility of fresh fighting in Juba, despite a two-day ceasefire that followed a major outbreak of violence, in which almost 300 people were killed.

The Ugandan army convoy of around 50 lorries escorted by machinegun-mounted armoured vehicles crossed the border on Thursday at Nimule, some 200km from Juba, to open up a secure corridor for fleeing civilians.

Al Jazeera has learned that the Ugandan forces have already reached the town of Nasitu, 20km south of Juba as of 1200 GMT.


  • Al Jazeera has also learned that the entry of Ugandan forces into South Sudanese territory has been authorised by the government of President Salva Kiir.

"We plan to go to Juba to extract 3,000 Ugandans stranded by fighting, but that number may grow as we will evacuate anyone who wants to leave of any nationality," said army chief Brigadier Leopold Kyanda to the AFP news agency.

"There may even be some South Sudanese who want to leave."
"Juba is totally peaceful and calm now and we do not expect any problems. The problems could be on the road where there are some few thugs. The first responsibility of any UPDF soldier is to protect himself and we are confident in this," Kyanda said.

Kyanda said that the mission would probably last "two to three days".

Al Jazeera's Malcolm Webb, reporting from Uganda's capital, Kampala, quoted Ugandan military as saying there are about 3,000 Ugandan civilans in Juba, so many of those empty lorries deployed were to "bring back their civilians home"...
 [aljazeera.com]
14/7/16
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