3 US Military Aircraft Hit in S. Sudan, 4 Wounded NAIROBI, Kenya December 21, 2013 (AP)
By JASON STRAZIUSO Associated Press
Description: Associated Press
Gunfire hit three U.S. military aircraft trying to evacuate American
citizens in a remote region of South Sudan that on Saturday became a battle
ground between the country's military and renegade troops, officials said.
Four U.S. service members were wounded in the attack in the same region
where gunfire downed a U.N. helicopter the day before.
The U.S. military aircraft were about to land in Bor, the capital of the
state of Jonglei and scene of some of the nation's worst violence over the
last week, when they were hit. The military said the four wounded troops
were in stable condition.
The U.S. military said three CV-22 Ospreys the kind of aircraft that can
fly like a helicopter and plane were "participating in a mission to
evacuate American citizens in Bor." A South Sudan official said violence
against civilians there has resulted in bodies "sprinkled all over town."
"After receiving fire from the ground while approaching the site, the
aircraft diverted to an airfield outside the country and aborted the
mission," the statement said. "The injured troops are being treated for
their wounds." It was not known how many U.S. civilians are in Bor.
After the aircraft took incoming fire, they turned around and flew to
Entebbe, Uganda. From there the service members were flown to Nairobi, Kenya
aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 for medical treatment, the statement said.
An official in the region who insisted on anonymity to share information not
made public said the Americans did not tell the top commander in Bor Gen.
Peter Gadet, who defected from the South Sudan military this week that
they were coming in, which may have led to the attack. The U.S. statements
said the gunfire was from unknown forces.
South Sudan's military spokesman, Col. Philip Aguer, said that government
troops are not in control of Bor, so the attack on the U.S. aircraft has to
be blamed on renegade soldiers.
"Bor is under the control of the forces of Riek Machar," Aguer said,
referring to the ousted vice president.
The U.S. Embassy in Juba said it has evacuated at least 450 Americans and
other foreign nationals from Juba this week and had hoped to begin
evacuations from Bor. The U.S. Ospreys were hit one day after small arms
fire downed a U.N. helicopter in the same state.
The U.N. on Friday sent four helicopters to extract 40 U.N. peacekeepers
from a base in Yuai, also in Jonglei, U.N. information officer Joe Contreras
said. One helicopter was fired upon and executed an emergency landing in
Upper Nile state, he said. No casualties occurred during the incident.
South Sudan's information minister, Michael Makuei Lueth, said that South
Sudanese ground troops, backed by the country's air force, are fighting
rebels in Bor, an effort to retake the state capital they lost earlier this
week.
"There is fighting going on in Bor town, yes, because since morning they
have continued to attack the civilian population," Lueth said, talking about
renegade troops. "They have gone as far as not respecting the U.N.
compound."
He said fighting started early Saturday after reports came in that rebels
there were shooting indiscriminately at civilians.
"The bodies are sprinkled all over the town," he said. No death toll could
be estimated, he said.
South Sudan President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, said this week that an
attempted coup triggered the violence now pulsing through South Sudan. He
blamed the former vice president, Machar, an ethnic Nuer. But officials have
since said a fight between Dinka and Nuer members of the presidential guard
triggered the initial violence late Sunday. Machar's ouster from the
country's No. 2 political position earlier this year had stoked ethnic
tensions.
The violence has killed hundreds and has world leaders worried that a
full-blown civil war could ignite in South Sudan. The south fought a
decades-long war with Sudan before a 2005 peace deal resulted in a 2011
referendum that saw South Sudan break away from the north, taking most of
the region's oil wealth with it.
Lueth described Machar as "the rebel leader," saying the forces that control
Bor believe they are fighting on his behalf. Machar's whereabouts remain
unknown, but he has said in recent interviews that he is in hiding somewhere
in South Sudan.
An International Crisis Group expert on South Sudan told The Associated
Press on Friday that rebels have taken control of at least some of South
Sudan's oil fields, an issue that could bring Sudan into the conflict. South
Sudan's oil flows north through Sudan's pipelines, providing Khartoum with
much needed income.
The U.N. Security Council on Friday said the weeklong violence could affect
neighboring countries and the entire region.
Speaking in Manila Sunday, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged South
Sudan's leaders "to do everything in their power to ensure that their
followers hear the message loud and clear that continued violence, ethnic
and otherwise, is completely unacceptable and pose a dangerous threat to the
future of their country."
Kenya announced it was sending in Kenyan troops to evacuate 1,600 Kenyans
stranded in South Sudan, many of them in Bor.
Earlier this week, President Barack Obama dispatched American troops to help
protect the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Juba. The embassy organized at
least five emergency evacuation flights to help Americans leave the country.
Other countries like Britain, Germany and Italy also helped citizens
evacuate.
Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii, was keeping an eye on the tense
situation in South Sudan. He said continued violence and militancy in South
Sudan may cost the world's newest country the support of the U.S. and other
nations.
"This conflict can only be resolved peacefully through negotiations," the
White House said in a statement. "Any effort to seize power through the use
of military force will result in the end of longstanding support from the
United States and the international community."
Secretary of State John Kerry called Kiir to urge the South Sudanese leader
to avoid ethnic conflict, preserve the welfare of those fleeing the conflict
and protect U.S. citizens there. Kerry was sending a special envoy to the
region and told Kiir that South Sudan's challenges require leadership and
political dialogue, the State Department said.
Mediators from East Africa continued to try to help negotiate peace.
Ethiopia's Foreign Ministry said that they have held "productive" talks with
Kiir and that consultations were continuing. Kiir has agreed to
"unconditional dialogue" to try to stop the violence.
Associated Press reporters Tom Strong in Washington, Josh Lederman in
Honolulu, Rodney Muhumuza in Kampala, Uganda and Teresa Cerojano in Manila,
Philippines contributed to this report.
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni and Dr. Kiiza Besigye Uganda is in anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni na Dk. Kiiza Besigye Uganda ni katika machafuko"
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