VIDEO: UN Chief Ban Ki Moon discusses the ongoing situation in South Sudan
The Canadian government is attempting to locate Canadian citizens still in South Sudan, as violence continues to escalate in the world’s youngest nation.
The Dept. of Foreign Affairs said there are approximately 100 Canadians registered as being in South Sudan. But, government sources told Global News more than 120 Canadians have already left the country either through commercial means or with Canadian government help.
Foreign Affairs has also warned Canadians against all travel to the country, including to capital city Juba and areas near the border.
“We have been working hard to locate Canadian citizens across South Sudan and, with the help of likeminded countries, have been able to secure a number of places on special outgoing evacuation flights over the past several days,” Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Spokesperson Rick Roth said the department is closely monitoring the situation, where 1,000 people have reportedly been killed and a further 100,000 displaced internally since an alleged coup attempt eight days ago.
“Canada is deeply concerned by the reports of ethnically targeted violence in South Sudan. The perpetrators of these crimes should be identified and brought to justice,” Roth said in an email on Monday.
“Canada calls for an immediate stop to the fighting in South Sudan and expresses its strong support for the efforts of the UN mission and the African Union to help the parties resolve the current conflict through dialogue,” he said.
According to The Associated Press, Ban is urging the U.N. Security Council to approve sending an additional 5,500 troops and police to the existing peacekeeping mission and that those forces be transferred from U.N. missions in Congo, Darfur (Sudan), Ivory Coast, Liberia and Abyei — an disputed area controlled by Sudan but claimed by South Sudan.
“The world is watching all sides in South Sudan,” Ban said at UN headquarters in New York. “Attacks on civilians and the UN peacekeepers deployed to protect them must cease immediately.”
Three UN peacekeepers, all from India, were killed on Thursday when youths from the Neur ethnic group stormed a UN compound in a village near the border with Ethiopia.
The Neur youths were reportedly targeting civilians belonging to the Dinka ethnic group who were taking shelter in the compound.
“The United Nations will investigate reports of grave human rights violations and crimes against humanity,” Ban said. “Those responsible at the senior level will be held personally accountable and face the consequences – even if they claim they had no knowledge of the attacks.”
Violence in the country began dividing along ethnic lines as a result of South Sudanese President Salva Kiir saying former vice-president turned rebel-leader Riek Machar attempted to overthrow the government.
Machar, who was dismissed in July of this year, is an ethnic Neur while Kiir is Dinka — the country’s majority ethnic group.
There are now fears the country, which only became independent from Sudan in July 2011, could face a civil war if the situation worsens.
The U.S. is planning to reposition its forces in the country after three of its aircraft were fired upon, temporarily halting an evacuation mission from a UN base in the city of Bor, about 200 kilometres north of the capital.
READ MORE: Kerry calls for end to ethnic violence in South Sudan, urges president to protect all citizens
UN humanitarian coordinator Tony Lanza told The Associated Press on Monday there were about 17,000 people — including Canadians — taking refuge at the base, trapped there because of heavy machine-gun fire in the area.
Lanzer said Bor “is a strategic location.”
“It would be difficult for me to imagine a scenario in which Bor is completely calm and safe over the coming days,” he said.
Obama sent a letter over the weekend to congressional leaders letting them know he may take further military action in South Sudan to protect U.S. citizens, personnel and property.
The central government acknowledged on Sunday it has lost control of Bentiu, the capital of Unity, and the surrounding oil fields. “Oil fields in the country’s Upper Nile state are still controlled by the central government,” South Sudan’s military spokesperson Col. Philip Aguer said.
East African leaders are pushing diplomatic efforts to avoid a full-blown civil war. Obama’s U.S. envoy is also headed toward the region.
*With files from The Associated Press
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