UN Deploys Troops To New Base As Violence Surges In S.Sudan

The UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan announced Wednesday it was deploying troops to the country's strife-torn south following an upsurge in violence by armed rebels against civilians and aid workers

Juba, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Sep, 2020 ) :The UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan announced Wednesday it was deploying troops to the country's strife-torn south following an upsurge in violence by armed rebels against civilians and aid workers.

The deployment of blue helmets to establish a new outpost in Central Equatoria follows attacks on humanitarian convoys this week that left two civilians dead, and a roadside ambush in the same region in late August that killed six vice-presidential bodyguards.

UN special envoy David Shearer said the peacekeepers would set up a base at Lobonok, some 110 kilometres (70 miles) southeast of the capital Juba, in a region witnessing a resurgence in iolent clashes between rebel and government forces.

"This will enable us to provide a protective presence in the area," said Shearer, who heads the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

The rise in violence has been blamed on the National Salvation Front (NAS), a rebel movement active in the wider Equatoria region led by former deputy army chief Thomas Cirillo.

NAS claimed responsibility for the deadly attack near Lobonok on the bodyguards of Vice President James Wani Igga.

Igga, one of South Sudan's five vice presidents, was not in the convoy and unharmed.