The United States ordered its citizens to leave South Sudan immediately Tuesday due to fighting in the capital after what its president called a coup attempt by soldiers loyal to his former deputy.
Facing an escalating threat of violence, about 13,000 people sought refuge at U.N. facilities in Juba, the capital, where sporadic but heavy gunfire has been heard since Sunday as factions of the armed forces repeatedly clashed across the city.
The U.S. Embassy said in an advisory Tuesday that Americans who choose to stay in South Sudan “should review their personal security situation and seriously reconsider their plans.” The embassy suspended its normal operations.
President Salva Kiir told the nation Monday that a group of soldiers loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar, who was fired in July amid a power struggle, tried to take power by force but were defeated. Kiir then ordered a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the capital.
The alleged coup attempt took place Sunday when some soldiers raided the main army barracks’ weapons store in Juba but were repelled by loyalists, sparking gunfights across the city, Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said.
At least 26 people, mostly soldiers, have died in the violence, according to Makur Maker, a senior Ministry of Health official.
Others put the casualties in the hundreds.
There are “disturbing reports of ethnically targeted killings,” with most of the fighting pitting soldiers from Kiir’s majority Dinka tribe against those from Machar’s Nuer tribe, said Casie Copeland, the South Sudan analyst for the International Crisis Group.
The international community has repeatedly urged South Sudan’s leaders to exercise restraint amid fears the violence could spark wider ethnic violence.
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon told Kiir in a telephone call Tuesday that he expected him “to exercise real leadership at this critical moment, and to instill discipline in the ranks of the (Sudanese military) to stop this fighting among them,” according to U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky.
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