Author Topic: U.S. suspends embassy activity in South Sudan  (Read 659 times)

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Offline EC

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U.S. suspends embassy activity in South Sudan
« on: December 20, 2013, 10:22:13 pm »
Sorry, I know it is no where near as interesting as some fake reality TV show ....

Via PBS: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/12/us-suspends-embassy-activity-in-south-sudan.html

Quote
The State Department urged U.S. citizens in South Sudan to "depart immediately" and suspended embassy operations until further notice because of increasingly violent activity in the capital Juba and elsewhere.

The action followed what South Sudan's President Salva Kiir called an attempted coup on Sunday. He said unidentified soldiers, who supported his former vice president-turned-political opponent Riek Machar, opened fire at a meeting of the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement political party on Sunday.

Kiir appeared on state television Monday night to say the government was in control of the capital after an overnight curfew and the arrest of five political leaders thought to be allied with the opposition. Machar is believed to be in hiding.

But gunfights continued in and around Juba, causing about 13,000 people to seek refuge at U.N. facilities, the United Nations said.

At least 26 people -- mostly soldiers -- have died in the gun battles, according to the Ministry of Health, reported the Associated Press. Other estimates said more than 100 people were killed.

"It's sad that this new country, born with so much hope, seems to be turning on itself."
-- Jon Temin, U.S. Institute of Peace
The conflict is not only political but reflects deep-rooted ethnic tensions in the new country, said Jon Temin, director of the U.S. Institute of Peace's Horn of Africa program. Kiir is Dinka and Machar belongs to the Nuer ethnic group, and both have their staunch supporters. So while the reports of violence were troubling, they were not particularly surprising, he said.

The suspension of U.S. Embassy operations, however, was the first such action taken since South Sudan voted to secede from northern Sudan in January 2011, said Temin. "This is the most significant violence in Juba since the creation of South Sudan. It's sad that this new country, born with so much hope, seems to be turning on itself. The hope is this can be walked back, but that has to happen quickly."

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Offline flowers

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Re: U.S. suspends embassy activity in South Sudan
« Reply #1 on: December 20, 2013, 10:36:07 pm »
Sorry, I know it is no where near as interesting as some fake reality TV show ....

Via PBS: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/12/us-suspends-embassy-activity-in-south-sudan.html

Nation building only works if the nation wants to be built.
What is going on in sudan? Muzzies taking over and killing the locals or tribes fighting each other for power? 
« Last Edit: December 20, 2013, 10:38:03 pm by flowers »


Offline EC

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Re: U.S. suspends embassy activity in South Sudan
« Reply #2 on: December 20, 2013, 10:45:15 pm »
What is going on in sudan? Muzzies taking over and killing the locals or tribes fighting each other for power? 

Bit of both, at the moment. It's mainly a power thing, but they do believe power is best expressed 600 rounds per minute traveling at 715 meters per second.

It's one of those hazy conflicts. South Sudan is only recently independent and Sudan would rather like that territory back. Lot of resources and the population is somewhat less starved.
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Offline flowers

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Re: U.S. suspends embassy activity in South Sudan
« Reply #3 on: December 20, 2013, 10:48:01 pm »
Bit of both, at the moment. It's mainly a power thing, but they do believe power is best expressed 600 rounds per minute traveling at 715 meters per second.

It's one of those hazy conflicts. South Sudan is only recently independent and Sudan would rather like that territory back. Lot of resources and the population is somewhat less starved.
Thank you for that info.