Egypt ready to send peacekeepers to S. Sudan

World Bulletin / News Desk.

Egyptian peacekeepers with UNAMID on patrol in Um Kadada, North Darfur, in January 2012. (Photo credits :UN/Albert Gonzalez Farran)

March 24, 2014(Cairo) — Egypt’s interim president Adly Mansour said on Sunday that his country was ready to contribute troops to the United Nations peacekeeping force in South Sudan.

In a statement, the Egyptian presidency said the offer came during Mansour’s meeting with visiting South Sudanese Defense Minister Kuol Manyang Juuk, who welcomed the Egyptian proposal.

Minister Juuk arrived in Cairo on Saturday for a several-day visit, his first to Egypt.

He met earlier today with Egypt’s Defense Minister Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi to discuss political developments in South Sudan as well as developments on the regional scene, Egypt’s state-run Middle East News Agency reported.

The two also discussed means of bolstering Egyptian-South Sudanese relations in all fields, the agency added.

South Sudan has been shaken by violence since last December, when President Salva Kiir accused ex-vice president Riek Machar of standing behind a failed coup attempt.

The violence has already claimed more than 10,000 lives.

The United Nations estimates that some 3.7 million South Sudanese are now “severely food insecure,” while more than 867,000 have been displaced by the violence.

As of December 2013, the UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan is composed of 5,884 civilian, 5,508 military, and 376 police personnel and is headquartered in the capital Juba, according to the mission’s website.

World Bulletin / News Desk