Several people died in southern Sudan after an UN attempt to evacuate members of the national army came under the fire, the UN said.
One crew member died when a UN helicopter was shot, a statement from his mission in southern Sudan, Unmuss, he said. He added that the injured General of South Sudan and several other troops were also killed during an attempt to evacuate in Gornja Nil.
The UN said the attack on his helicopter “may be a war crime.”
Southern Sudan President Salva Kiir later said that the second helicopter managed to take off after the attack, only to overthrow Land, killing everything on board. But Unmus said both aircraft were safe to land in Malakal.
Twenty -seven Southern Sudan soldiers were killed in total, and Reuters journalistic agency quoted Michael Makuei’s information minister.
The weekly fighting in Gornji Nilo was threatened by a fragile peace agreement between President Kiir and Vice -President Riek Machara.
In 2013, the scoring between the couple caused a five -year civil war, during which 400,000 people were killed and 2.5 million forced from their homes.
The peace agreement was signed in 2018, but the situation has been fulfilled since then.
The current fights in Gornji Nilo are between the armed forces and the white army, an ethnic militia that was associated with Machar during the war.
In agreement with the white army and the army of southern Sudan, Uniss evacuated wounded troops from the conflict zone.
UNMISS chief Nicholas Hays said in a statement that the attack on the staff of his mission was “extremely disgusting and can represent a war crime against international law. We deeply regret the tragic loss of our colleague and express our sincere condolences to our loved ones.
“We also regret the killing of those we tried to pull out, especially when the certificates of safe passage were received.”
President Kiir said that a military general who died in the attack was Gene Majur Dak, who led the forces stationed in Nasir, the region in Gornji Nilo.
In addition to the fighting, a series of arrests caused concern that South Sudan could see a return to war.
Numerous Machar’s allies, including the Minister of Naphta and the High Army General, were detained earlier this week.
After the attack on Friday, Kirr invited the nation to “stay calm”.
“I have said again again that our country will not return to war. Let no one take the law into their own hands. The government I am leading will resolve this crisis,” he said.
South Sudan is the latest world nation after moving from Sudan in 2011.
