South Sudan

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Obama Makes History With Ethiopia Visit

But critics say he's 'rewarding' repressive regime

(Newser) - President Obama became the first sitting US president to visit Ethiopia when he arrived there last night after a stop in Kenya , his father's homeland. He huddled with the country's leaders today for talks on counterterrorism, human rights, and regional security issues, including the crisis in neighboring South...

In World's Newest Nation, Army Is Burning Girls Alive

UN report describes torture, rape, abductions in South Sudan

(Newser) - Violence in South Sudan, which broke from Sudan in 2011, has escalated to "a new brutality and intensity," according to a new UN report accusing the Sudan People's Liberation Army of carrying out a campaign of "killing, rape, abduction, looting, arson, and displacement." It notes...

About 90 Boys Taken in South Sudan
About 90 Boys Taken
in South Sudan

About 90 Boys Taken in South Sudan

Armed group abducts them during exams

(Newser) - An armed group in South Sudan has abducted at least 89 boys in a northern state, the UN children's agency said today. The boys, some as young as 13, were abducted near Malakal, the capital of Upper Nile state, according to a UNICEF statement. Armed men surrounded the community...

Obama Offers Rare Personal Toast on Africa

Speaks of family history at US-Africa Summit dinner

(Newser) - President Obama isn't known for getting particularly personal at the podium, Politico notes, but in a speech at the US-Africa Summit , he offered up his own story. "I stand before you as the president of the United States and a proud American. I also stand before you as...

Sudanese Christian Woman: Jailhouse Birth Went Wrong

Worries daughter could suffer disability

(Newser) - "Something has happened to the baby," says Meriam Ibrahim, in her first recounting of giving birth to her daughter on the floor of a Sudanese prison cell. "I don't know in the future whether she'll need support to walk or not." Ibrahim is now...

South Sudan Makes Peace Deal With Rebels

President Salva Kiir agrees to peace after 5 months of fighting

(Newser) - Finally, peace in South Sudan? President Salva Kiir agreed to a peace deal today with rebel leader Riek Machar after five months of fighting, thousands killed, and a million forced to flee their homes, the BBC reports. Signed in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, the deal includes drafting a...

South Sudan Rebels, Gov't Sign Ceasefire

First sign of progress after five weeks of warfare

(Newser) - South Sudan's government and the rebels fighting it have signed a cessation of hostilities agreement that should at the least put a pause to five weeks of warfare. Negotiators for the two sides have been meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for weeks. Today's signing was the first real...

Hundreds Drown in Attempt to Flee South Sudan

Women, children die on overloaded vessel

(Newser) - Some 400,000 people have now fled South Sudan amid weeks of fighting, the UN says; at least 200 drowned on a ferry trying to escape. "The reports we have are of between 200 to 300 people, including women and children. The boat was overloaded," an army rep...

New South Sudan Death Estimate 10 Times Higher

Meanwhile, rebels drop key ceasefire demand

(Newser) - The three-week-long conflict in South Sudan has been a heck of a lot bloodier than previously believed, at least according to one group's estimate. Around 10,000 people have likely died in the conflict, the International Crisis Group said yesterday—a far cry from the 1,000 estimate that...

US Embassy Done Helping US Citizens in South Sudan

As more embassy staff are evacuated

(Newser) - As of tomorrow, the US embassy in South Sudan will no longer provide consular services to US citizens, according to the AP , as even more embassy staff were today whisked out of Juba in the face of a "deteriorating security situation." The State Department today facilitated an evacuation...

As Talks Begin, UN Tells South Sudan It 'Can Still Be Saved'

'Gravely concerned' over atrocities, violence

(Newser) - As negotiators from South Sudan's two warring sides arrived in Ethiopia for peace talks, a UN official urged both forces to bring the world's newest country "back from the brink." Fighting continued in Bor, a gateway city to the capital of Juba, the center of ethnically...

S. Sudan Rebel: I've Seized Town, Now I'll Talk

Riek Machar says he has taken Bor, is reportedly en route to Ethiopia

(Newser) - What is clear: That heavy fighting has erupted in Bor, a hotly contested provincial capital in South Sudan; a military rep says government troops are fighting renegade forces loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar as well as the pro-Machar tribal militia known as the "White Army," reports...

How Film Stars Helped Ruin South Sudan

Their narrative of a plucky nation was too simple: Daniel Howden

(Newser) - Hollywood stars like George Clooney and Don Cheadle have argued passionately for nation-building in South Sudan. Only problem: They didn't quite see the whole story, writes Daniel Howden at the Guardian . Film stars and other activists delivered "a narrative about the new country that borrowed from a simple...

UN Votes to Increase Troops in South Sudan to 12.5K

80% increase as Security Council calls for 'immediate cessation of hostilities'

(Newser) - The UN Security Council has voted to temporarily increase the UN peacekeeping force in conflict-torn South Sudan to 12,500 troops from 7,000, a nearly 80% increase. The resolution adopted unanimously today by the UN's most powerful body will also increase the UN's international police contingent from...

Foreigners Stuck in S. Sudan City US Evacuated

Thousands trapped as UN warns of rising violence

(Newser) - British, Canadian, and Kenyan citizens are among 3,000 foreigners trapped in a South Sudan city experiencing bouts of heavy machine gun fire, one of the most violent areas of a weeklong conflict that has likely killed more than 1,000 people, a top United Nations official says. Australians, Ugandans,...

US Sending Troops to South Sudan

Americans there need more protection, says President Obama

(Newser) - Washington is getting in deeper: About 150 US troops are heading toward South Sudan today to help secure the US embassy and evacuate more Americans from the war-torn country, military officials said. The troops will likely first travel to Djibouti via Spain, CNN reports. The move follows a letter from...

Obama Eyes 'Further Action' in South Sudan

Almost 700 evacuated, including 380 Americans: State Department

(Newser) - With South Sudan facing the threat of a civil war, the US evacuated its citizens from the country over the weekend, and Washington is prepared to intervene further on Americans' behalf, President Obama told Congress in a letter. "I may take further action to support the security of US...

Americans Flown Out of War-Torn South Sudan
Americans Flee
War-Torn South Sudan

Americans Flee War-Torn South Sudan

But the UN doubles down as violence spreads

(Newser) - The State Department flew 15 Americans out of South Sudan today amid rising violence that killed hundreds of people and wounded four US troops there this week, CNN reports. The Americans showed up at the UN camp in Bor, South Sudan, and evacuated in coordination with the UN and the...

3 US Troops Wounded in South Sudan
 4 US Troops 
 Wounded in 
 South Sudan 
UPDATED

4 US Troops Wounded in South Sudan

American aircraft hit by gunfire during evacuation mission

(Newser) - At least four US service members were wounded today when rebel gunfire hit two US military aircraft responding to the outbreak in violence in South Sudan . The aircraft were heading to Bor, the capital of the state of Jonglei and scene of some of the nation's worst violence over...

UN Base Attacked in South Sudan

Meanwhile, US sends in 45 troops

(Newser) - The UN sent four rescue helicopters to its base in Akobo today, after the outpost came under fire yesterday. At least two Indian peacekeepers at the South Sudanese base were killed before all communications were lost, the New York Times reports. The UN later announced that some refugees sheltering there...

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