South Sudan's opposition leader Riek Machar flees to DRC
Former vice president has been handed to authorities in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo, says UN
Riek Machar left Juba in South Sudan last month amid violent clashes. Photograph: AFP/Getty
Reuters in Juba
Friday 19 August 2016 05.24 AEST Last modified on Friday 19 August 2016 06.00 AEST
Riek Machar, South Sudan .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/south-sudan ’s former vice president and opposition leader, is in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the UN has said, weeks after he withdrew from South Sudan’s capital, Juba, during violent clashes with government troops.
The UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC became aware of Machar’s presence in the country on Wednesday and contacted the Congolese government, who then asked the mission to extract Machar from his location, a UN spokesman said.
“Riek Machar has been handed over to the authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/congo . We’re not in a position to confirm his location,” Farhan Haq said.
A spokesman for the DRC’s government, Lambert Mende, denied it had been in touch with anyone about helping the former South Sudanese vice president. But Haq said Machar was extracted from an area close to the border with South Sudan .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/south-sudan .
“We can confirm that an operation was undertaken by the Monusco UN mission on humanitarian grounds to facilitate the extraction of Riek Machar, his wife and 10 others from a location in the DRC in support of the DRC authorities,” Haq said, adding that Monusco had been considered the best suited party to move Machar safely.
A statement issued by the leadership of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement In Opposition said Machar had left on Wednesday to a “safe country within the region”.
An opposition spokesman, James Gatdet Dak, writing on his Facebook page, said its fighters had “successfully relocated our leader to a neighbouring country where he will now have unhindered access to the rest of the world and the media”.
Machar had sustained a leg injury from weeks of walking in the bush but it was not serious enough to require medical attention, Dak said.
Since the fighting last month, Kiir has sacked Machar from his post and replaced him with Taban Deng Gai, a former opposition negotiator who broke ranks with Machar.
The UN told Kiir that any political changes must be consistent with the peace deal, which stated that the vice president must be chosen by the South Sudan Armed Opposition.
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.. tradition has been to marry girls off at the tender young age of 14y to a man obviously not of the girl's choosing .. one focus of the Grandmother Project is to suggest girls are better off at school, and should not marry until at least 18 .. also that the husband should not be imposed on the girl .. also brothers are encouraged to support the idea their sisters should be in school rather than in marriage at such an early age .. girls say it's great talking to our grandmothers, 'they help us stay at school and tell us we shouldn't marry so young' .. too many development projects ignore the elders and thus have a negative effect in some ways ..
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Dr. Judi Aubel is a specialist in community development, health and education. She has 20 years of experience working with community health programs primarily in Africa but also in Latin America, Asia and the Pacific. Her training is in adult education, medical anthropology and public health. Her focus is on developing community health and education programs that build on socio-cultural realities and resources and that empower communities to effectively promote their own wellbeing. She extensively worked to build the capacities of local NGOs and government institutions to implement grandmother inclusive and culturally grounded approaches to community development.
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