Obama deploys troops to protect US interests in South Sudan

The President of the United States, Barack Obama, on Wednesday through the White House announced the dispatch of special forces to South Sudan, the scene of violent clashes in the past few days.

The main duty of the 47 troops will be to protect the US embassy in Juba and his staff. According to AFP, the first 47 soldiers arrived on site on Tuesday and some 130 others currently in Djibouti are ready to join them “if necessary”, the US president is quoted to have said.

“These deployed personnel will remain in South Sudan until the situation becomes such that their presence is no longer needed,” a statement from the White House noted.

A second day of ceasefire has largely been in force in South Sudan following calls by the President and his first vice president for a cessation of hostilities after fighting between rival forces broke out late last week.

Some foreign governments have been evacuating their staff from the country while the United States on Monday said that it is carrying out what it called an “ordered departure” of some staff from the country.

Calm returned to the country in April this year after Vice President Riek Machar returned to the capital Juba to form a unity government with President Salva Kiir, following years of conflict that started when Kiir fired Machar from his government.

Machar is reported to have quit the capital as at Wednesday afternoon to an unknown location but his spokesperson insists that he is neither going to the bush or preparing to start a new war.