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| Africa Horn |
| U.N. Reinforcements Due in S. Sudan in 48 Hours |
| 2013-12-27 |
| [An Nahar] The first reinforcements to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan are expected to arrive within two days, the world body's special envoy to the violence-wracked country, Hilde Johnson, said Thursday. The U.N. Security Council agreed to nearly double the size of the mission known as UNMISS, allowing for up to 12,500 soldiers and 1,300 police. "We are working around the clock to get assets," which will come from other U.N. peacekeeping missions in Africa, notably in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... , Sudan's Darfur region and Liberia, Johnson said. "We are working on 48 hours delivery of several of the critical assets that we need," she told a presser. Both manpower and equipment would be sent, Johnson said, without offering further details. Helicopters and a military transport plane are eventually expected to be deployed to South Sudan. Johnson spoke of an urgent need to get the additional support as soon as possible to the U.N.'s overtaxed mission in the country, which has been roiled by days of deadly ethnic violence. Tens of thousands of civilians have sought protection at U.N. bases amid a wave of ethnic violence pitting members of President Salva Kiir's Dinka tribe against rival Riek Machar's Nuer clansmen. "At this point in time, the military is overstretched with the current protection... of civilians in our camps," she said. "All peacekeepers are under instruction to use force when civilians are under imminent threat." |
| Posted by:Fred |