New Dawn For “America’s Africa”: Obama Deploys First Contingent of US Ground Troops to South Sudan

[Baluarte]

New Dawn For “America’s Africa”: Obama Deploys First Contingent of US Ground Troops to South Sudan

By 21st Century Wire

http://21stcenturywire.com/2013/12/20/obama-deploys-first-group-of-us-troops-to-south-sudan/

Mission creep? More like a ‘new dawn’ for Africa.

http://21stcenturywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/obama-africom.jpg

Indeed, famous last words of many a US President, now coming out of Barack Obama’s mouth today:

“These troops will remain in South Sudan until the security situation becomes such that it is no longer needed.”

Watch this space, as US AFRICOM’s first major set piece in the new Africa – the partitioning of Sudan and South Sudan – begins heating up this month

Off the wire: (http://www.rappler.com/world/regions/us-canada/46301-us-troops-south-sudan-deployment)“The US has deployed 45 troops to protect US personnel and assets in South Sudan amid ongoing fighting between rebels and government forces, the White House said. President Barack Obama sent a letter to Congress, saying the group of soldiers was sent Wednesday, AFP reported. The small force will remain in South Sudan “until the security situation becomes such that it is no longer needed,” Obama said.“Although equipped for combat, this force was deployed for the purpose of protecting US citizens and property.”

http://files.myopera.com/nielsol/blog/Sudan_oil_2.jpg

‘US citizens and property?’ Yes, we think there are bigger fish to fry in South Sudan, much bigger in fact. Realise that the major theme regarding the new South Sudan, is not only its oil fields and refineries, but also Chinese investment in the south. Two major points of contention which US AFRICOM was originally set-up to deal with.

http://images.thenews.com.pk/updates_pics/Sudan-troops-clash_12-16-2013_130543_l.jpg

According to Rappler (http://www.rappler.com/world/regions/us-canada/46301-us-troops-south-sudan-deployment):


The United States has deployed 45 troops to protect US personnel and assets in South Sudan, amid intensifying fighting between rebels and government forces, the White House said Thursday.

In a letter to Congress, President Barack Obama said the force was sent Wednesday and “will remain in South Sudan until the security situation becomes such that it is no longer needed.”

“Although equipped for combat, this force was deployed for the purpose of protecting US citizens and property,” he added.

“This action has been directed consistent with my responsibility to protect US citizens both at home and abroad, and in furtherance of US national security and foreign policy interests, pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct US foreign relations and as commander in chief and chief executive.”

Obama said the force consisted of “approximately” 45 troops, without giving a precise number.

The growing violence has prompted fears the world’s youngest nation could slide toward civil war.

The move came after the United States ordered all non-emergency embassy staff on Tuesday to leave South Sudan and stressed the onus was on the country’s leaders to end the violence.

The US mission in the capital Juba is also due to suspend normal operations for the time being.

The fighting in the world’s youngest nation has set off alarm bells in the international community, with the United Nations urging the warring groups to refrain from ethnic violence.

In an example of the danger facing foreign troops in the volatile country, 3 Indian peacekeepers were killed Thursday in an attack by ethnic Nuer youths on a United Nations base in Jonglei state. Other casualties are feared.

US authorities also urged Americans against travel to the troubled country, urging that “US citizens currently in South Sudan depart immediately.”

Those who choose to stay in South Sudan “should review their personal security situation and seriously reconsider their plans to remain,” it added.

[LightHouse89]

He's such a wonderful president. Not fixing the economy, murdering Syrians, promoting abortion, teen pregnancy [planned parenthood], lending billions of tax dollars to Africa, trying to ban the second amendment, building FEMA camps, creating an Ultra-Left welfare state, yeah I sure voted for this anti-Christ. He even looks evil to me. He hates America and the people who live here except Al Sharpton and Jackson and the NCCAP/GLAAD network. The whole Democrat party needs to be removed from power.

[Baluarte]

He's such a wonderful president. Not fixing the economy, murdering Syrians, promoting abortion, teen pregnancy [planned parenthood], lending billions of tax dollars to Africa, trying to ban the second amendment, building FEMA camps, creating an Ultra-Left welfare state, yeah I sure voted for this anti-Christ. He even looks evil to me. He hates America and the people who live here except Al Sharpton and Jackson and the NCCAP/GLAAD network. The whole Democrat party needs to be removed from power.

In all honesty, I doubt Mitt Romney would have been any better if he had won.
The Imperial logic is now much stronger than any political party. The Inner State controls it.

[LightHouse89]

In all honesty, I doubt Mitt Romney would have been any better if he had won.
The Imperial logic is now much stronger than any political party. The Inner State controls it.

In a way democracy is its own greatest enemy. If you look at Russia today its a different kind of Democracy. Maybe not perfect though.

[Mortimer]

thanks for the interesting insight baluarte

[Longbowman]

In a way democracy is its own greatest enemy. If you look at Russia today its a different kind of Democracy. Maybe not perfect though.

>implying Russia is in any way democratic.

[LightHouse89]

>implying Russia is in any way democratic.

The need to pretend in order to rebuild the 4th Reich. West= free masonry, East = our last hope. People like me will do our best to troll our ways out of such a war. Leave the lambs to the wolves sort of thing.

[Longbowman]

The need to pretend in order to rebuild the 4th Reich. West= free masonry, East = our last hope. People like me will do our best to troll our ways out of such a war. Leave the lambs to the wolves sort of thing.

I highlighted the part I liked.

But no, they do need to pretend to be democratic, you're right.

[Gospodine]

The whole Democrat party needs to be removed from power.

Believing in the fake Left-Right paradigm is a genuine litmus test for a subservient troglodyte with no critical thinking. You're also on a forum that is unsurpassed in it's ability to make right-wing individuals look like buffoons with the exception of Stormfront.

Don't succumb to such stifling divide-and-conquer tactics.

[Baluarte]

S Sudan on precipice of civil war, Obama warns

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71867000/jpg/_71867604_71866812.jpg
The BBC's Anne Soy says there are reports that opposition leaders are calling for President Kiir to stand down before talks can commence

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25459615

US President Barack Obama has warned that South Sudan is on the "precipice" of a civil war, after clashes in the capital Juba spread around the country.

He said 45 military personnel had been deployed to South Sudan on Wednesday to protect American citizens and property.

At least 500 people are believed to have died since last weekend, when President Salva Kiir accused his ex-deputy Riek Machar of a failed coup.

An estimated 34,000 people have taken refuge at United Nations compounds. (http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/South_Sudan_crisis_situation_update_as_of_19_Decem ber.pdf)


The next phase may well be a military one, as both sides test out the limits of their strength”
James Copnall
BBC South Sudan analyst

Two Indian peacekeepers were killed on Thursday when a UN base sheltering refugees at Akobo, Jonglei state, came under attack, the UN mission to the country, Unmiss, said on Friday (http://unmiss.unmissions.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=yv6C276mIlQ%3d&tabid=3465&mid=9396&language=en-US). An injured Indian soldier was taken to hospital, it said.

Earlier reports said three Indian peacekeepers had been killed in the attack.
UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said more casualties were feared, and he did not know the fate of more than 30 Dinka civilians sheltering at the base.
Security at the compound has since been increased.

Sudan suffered a 22-year civil war that left more than a million people dead before the South became independent in 2011.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71859000/jpg/_71859291_71859290.jpg
UN spokesman Farhan Haq: "We condemn this attack in the strongest terms''

The recent unrest has pitted gangs from the Nuer ethnic group of Mr Machar against Dinkas - the majority group to which Mr Kiir belongs.

"South Sudan stands at the precipice. Recent fighting threatens to plunge South Sudan back into the dark days of its past," President Obama said in a letter to Congress.

"Inflammatory rhetoric and targeted violence must cease. All sides must listen to the wise counsel of their neighbours, commit to dialogue and take immediate steps to urge calm and support reconciliation."

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71838000/jpg/_71838741_6a09bbcb-0acf-4463-a86d-4b8ffc31c981.jpg
Thousands of civilians have sought safety in the UN compound in Bor

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71865000/jpg/_71865405_hi020398518.jpg
The UN has expressed concern about a possible civil war between the Dinka and Nuer ethnic groups

President Kiir has blamed the violence on soldiers who support Mr Machar. Mr Machar, who was sacked by Mr Kiir in July, has denied trying to stage a coup. Mr Machar's whereabouts are unknown.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71868000/gif/_71868284_south_sudan_464mapv2.gif
Despite calls for calm, the rival groups have been fighting fierce gun-battles.

African Union spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said on Thursday that the town of Bor, the Jonglei state capital, north of Juba, was in the hands of forces loyal to Mr Machar.

"They control the town but government forces are trying to retake it," he said.

A health official in Juba told the BBC that six doctors in Bor had fled the town after the hospital came under fire from shelling. One of them texted him to say they were still hiding in the bush.

Heavy fighting between Nuer and Dinka soldiers has also been reported near Bentiu, capital of oil-producing Unity State.

A UN spokesman told Reuters news agency more than 500 civilians - and 27 soldiers loyal to President Kiir - had sought refuge at a UN compound there.


Who is Riek Machar?
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71773000/jpg/_71773889_4fb9ca71-5fac-41be-9ed3-5231150f18af.jpg


Central figure in Sudanese and South Sudanese politics for three decades
Ethnic Nuer - second largest group in South Sudan
Senior southern rebel SPLM commander but split in 1990s
After 2005 peace deal appointed vice-president, retaining the post after independence in 2011 until his dismissal in July 2013



A number of countries were preparing to evacuate their nationals. Britain was sending another flight on Friday (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-to-send-second-flight-to-south-sudan-to-evacuate-british-nationals), a day after a military transport plane evacuated 182 people, including 53 Britons, to Uganda.

Uganda has sent a small contingent of troops to help pull out its nationals.

A US plane was also due to take Americans out of the country. And China's National Petroleum Company was evacuating oil workers to Juba.

Jonglei state has witnessed some of the worst violence since South Sudan became independent, with hundreds killed in clashes between rival heavily-armed ethnic militias sparked by cattle-rustling.

Following decades of conflict, weapons such as machineguns are widely available in much of South Sudan.

In a statement, the UN mission in the country, Unmiss, said conditions for displaced people in Juba and Bor were "challenging".

It said in some of the UN bases, some people had been able "to construct basic shelters with available materials, but many have no or limited access to shelter".

A delegation of East African foreign ministers has travelled to Juba to try to mediate in the crisis.

South Sudan's government insists the clashes are over power and politics, not between ethnic groups.

The oil-rich country has struggled to achieve a stable government since becoming independent.

---------------------------------
Maps:

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71830000/gif/_71830715_sud_ethnic.gif
Sudan's arid north is mainly home to Arabic-speaking Muslims. But in South Sudan there is no dominant culture. The Dinkas and the Nuers are the largest of more than 200 ethnic groups, each with its own languages and traditional beliefs, alongside Christianity and Islam.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71828000/gif/_71828193_sud_oil.gif
Both Sudan and the South are reliant on oil revenue, which accounts for 98% of South Sudan's budget. They have fiercely disagreed over how to divide the oil wealth of the former united state - at one time production was shutdown for more than a year. Some 75% of the oil lies in the South but all the pipelines run north.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71828000/gif/_71828196_sud_sat.gif
The two Sudans are very different geographically. The great divide is visible even from space, as this Nasa satellite image shows. The northern states are a blanket of desert, broken only by the fertile Nile corridor. South Sudan is covered by green swathes of grassland, swamps and tropical forest.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71830000/gif/_71830718_sud_water2.gif
In the Sudanese states of Khartoum, River Nile, and Gezira states, two-thirds of people have access to piped drinking water and pit latrines. In South Sudan, boreholes and unprotected wells are the main drinking sources. More than 80% of South Sudanese have no toilet facilities.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71839000/gif/_71839750_sud_edu.gif
Throughout the two Sudans, access to primary school education is strongly linked to household earnings. In the poorest parts of the south, less than 1% of children finish primary school. Whereas in the wealthier north, up to 50% of children complete primary level education.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71830000/gif/_71830721_sud_food2.gif
Conflict and poverty are the main causes of food insecurity in both countries. In Sudan, many of the residents of war-affected Darfur and the border states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan depend on food aid. The UN says about 2.8m people in South Sudan required food aid in 2013.

[Baluarte]

South Sudan rebels hit US military aircraft, 3 people wounded

http://cdn.ruvr.ru/2013/12/21/1188857851/7highres_00000400300963.jpg

At least two US evacuation flights from South Sudan have been fired on, causing some injuries, say reports from Uganda, where the planes landed.

The US military aircraft were heading to Bor, the capital of the state of Jonglei and scene of some of the nation's worst violence over the last week.
One of the wounded service members was reported to be in critical condition. Officials said after the aircraft took incoming fire, they turned around and headed to Kampala, Uganda. From there the service members flew on to Nairobi, Kenya for medical treatment.

South Sudan has been in turmoil since President Salva Kiir accused Mr Machar a week ago of attempting a coup.
At least 500 people have been killed in clashes.

The Sudanese army is trying to retake Bor, the capital of eastern Jonglei state, one of the most volatile regions in South Sudan.
Troops backed by helicopter gunships were advancing on the town, army spokesman Philip Aguer told the French AFP news agency.

[Baluarte]

After reading the 3 essays I've linked in this thread, a relevant question to ask would be: What is the interest of the US in South Sudan, and how will it possibly act during the worsening civil war?

It is however clear AFRICOM's power is consolidating and this first "45 men deployment" will obviously play a much larger role than what has been accepted by facade officials like Obama.

I'll be reading researching a bit more over the course of the day, but please do contribute if you can.

[blklady2013]

Follow the money trail. Only idiots will believe that a black president is trying to look out for the interests of a black country. The justification for this occupation is due to a.) either the existence of some untapped natural resource that we wish to exploit or b.) the arms industry needs another blood bath to spike sales in weaponry to line their coffers.

[LightHouse89]

I have a strange feeling most of these civil wars are for he oil industry from around the world. The Saudis want to build a pipeline to go to Europe as oppose to using the shipping industry. These little civil wars are just a ruse to what is actually happening behind the scene.

[LightHouse89]

Follow the money trail. Only idiots will believe that a black president is trying to look out for the interests of a black country. The justification for this occupation is due to a.) either the existence of some untapped natural resource that we wish to exploit or b.) the arms industry needs another blood bath to spike sales in weaponry to line their coffers.

Your are right. It is also other countries like Saudi Arabia, Israel and Britain. Big oil industries from around the world will profit off of these wars.

[Baluarte]

UN performs an escalation in their blue helmet contingent:

--------------------------------------------------------------


UN plans to send more peacekeepers, police to South Sudan

http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_12_23/UN-plans-to-send-more-peacekeepers-police-to-South-Sudan-9095/

http://cdn.ruvr.ru/2013/12/23/1188593328/7highres_00000402115610.jpg

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Monday recommended to the Security Council that 5,500 more soldiers and 423 extra police be sent to violence-wracked South Sudan to reinforce the UN mission there.

Ban said he planned to recommend the additional forces, without providing a specific number, to the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), which already has about 7,000 military, police and civilian personnel.

"There is a shortage in human capacity and other resources," Ban said. He suggested that UN peacekeepers in some African countries may be sent to South Sudan.

Voice of Russia, DPA