The United Nations Security Council voted to increase the number of peacekeepers stationed in South Sudan from the current 7,600 to more than 13,000 following two weeks of fighting between forces loyal to Salva Kiir, the country’s ethnically Dinka president, and Nuer backers of the former prime minister, Riek Machar, whom Kiir fired in July and accused of planning a coup to unseat him. “He must go, because he can no longer maintain the unity of the people,” said Machar. “Especially when he kills people like flies.” The bodies of 34 Dinka were found in a mass grave in Unity State, and U.N. officials said that thousands of others had died in the past week, and that at least 80,000 people had fled their homes. “This is not,” said human rights activist Biel Boutros Biel, “a place to be.”
Weekly Review
Weekly Review
Weekly Review
The United Nations Security Council voted to increase the number of peacekeepers stationed in South Sudan from the current 7,600 to more than 13,000 following two weeks of fighting between forces loyal to Salva Kiir, the country’s ethnically Dinka president, and Nuer backers of the former prime minister, Riek Machar, whom Kiir fired in July and accused of planning a coup to unseat him. “He must go, because he can no longer maintain the unity of the people,” said Machar. “Especially when he kills people like flies.” The bodies of 34 Dinka were found in a mass grave in Unity State, and U.N. officials said that thousands of others had died in the past week, and that at least 80,000 people had fled their homes. “This is not,” said human rights activist Biel Boutros Biel, “a place to be.”