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| Africa Horn |
| U.N. Says S. Sudan Death Toll Rising 'Substantially' |
| 2014-01-10 |
| [An Nahar] The United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... said Thursday the South Sudan conflict corpse count is "very substantially" higher than the 1,000 given so far, as it stepped up efforts to shelter civilians. The U.N. mission in South Sudan has cut all military links with the government army and is ready to act against any attack by the army one of its bases, U.N. officials said. Most concern is now focused on the oil town of Bentiu where rebel forces loyal to former vice president Riek Machar are holding off the army of President Salva Kiir. U.N. deputy front man Farhan Haq said the outcome of the battle for Bentiu, capital of Unity state, was "unclear and fluid." "Explosions and fighting have been reportedly heard in the town this morning," said Haq, who added that more than 8,000 people have fled to the Bentiu U.N. compound. The mission was expanding its "protection site" at Bentiu to cope with the growing numbers seeking shelter there, Haq said. There are now more than 60,000 people at U.N. compounds across South Sudan, half of them in Juba and another 9,000 in Bor, the rebel held capital of Jonglei state. And the number of South Sudanese taking refuge in Uganda has more than tripled to 32,000 in the past two days, the U.N. said, adding that more than 10,000 are also registered in Kenya and Æthiopia. In total, there are now probably more than a quarter million people displaced by the fighting, U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said, after briefing the U.N. Security Council on the crisis. No current figures on a corpse count were available, Ladsous added, but he estimated it was "very substantially in excess" of the 1,000 deaths the U.N. reported just after conflict erupted on December 15. The Security Council has approved sending an extra 5,500 troops to South Sudan who are only slowly arriving. Ladsous said it would need four to eight weeks to get the reinforcements in place. Nepal is to provide 850 of the extra troops, U.N. officials said. |
| Posted by:Fred |