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Several people, including a United Nations crew member and South Sudanese soldiers, died Friday after an evacuation mission by the UN came under attack, the UN Mission in South Sudan (Unmiss) confirmed.
A UN statement confirmed that one of its helicopters was fired upon during an evacuation mission in Upper Nile state, resulting in the death of a crew member. An injured South Sudanese general and several other soldiers were also killed.
The UN said the attack on its helicopter “may constitute a war crime.”
President Salva Kiir stated that a second helicopter took off after the attack but later crash-landed, killing everyone on board. Unmiss, however, reported that both aircraft landed safely in Malakal.
Information Minister Michael Makuei told the media that 27 South Sudanese soldiers were killed.
Ongoing fighting in Upper Nile has put further strain on the peace deal between President Kiir and Vice-President Riek Machar.
A rift between the two leaders in 2013 led to a five-year civil war that resulted in 400,000 deaths and displaced 2.5 million people.
The conflict in Upper Nile involves the armed forces and the White Army, an ethnic militia that was aligned with Machar during the civil war.
Unmiss had been coordinating with both the White Army and South Sudan’s army to evacuate wounded troops from the area.
Nicholas Haysom, head of Unmiss, condemned the attack, stating that it was “utterly abhorrent” and could be considered a war crime under international law. “We deeply regret the tragic loss of our colleague and express our sincere condolences to his loved ones,” he said.
“We also regret the killing of those we were attempting to extract, particularly when assurances of safe passage had been received.”
President Kiir identified the army general killed in the attack as Gen Majur Dak, who was in charge of forces stationed in Nasir, Upper Nile.
Recent arrests have raised concerns over stability in South Sudan.
Several allies of Machar, including the oil minister and a senior army general, were arrested earlier this week.
Following the attack, Kiir urged the country to “remain calm.”
“I have said time and again that our country would not go back to war. Let no one take the law into their own hands. The government, which I lead, will handle this crisis,” he said.
South Sudan became the world’s newest nation after gaining independence from Sudan in 2011.
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