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The Sudanese government on Monday announced that around 3,000 Sudanese nationals are willing to be urgently evacuated from South Sudan's capital Juba, which has been witnessing bloody military clashes.
"Around 3,000 Sudanese nationals are willing to be urgently evacuated from Juba, where battles are ongoing between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and others to the First Vice-President Riek Machar," a government committee formed by Khartoum to evacuate its nationals from Juba said Monday.
Meanwhile, Haj Majid Suwar, head of the committee, reiterated the need for an issuance by the president of the republic to evacuate the Sudanese nationals from South Sudan.
"The evacuation process is considered a presidential decision in the first place, similar to the operations of evacuation of the Sudanese nationals from Yemen, Libya and Central Africa Republic," he noted.
Suwar further disclosed that it is impossible to use civil aviation as an evacuation means, due to eruption of the clashes to the northern side of Juba where lies the airport, thus it is considered a war zone.
According to the government statistics, the number of the Sudanese nationals in South Sudan is set at about 50,000 citizens, distributed in many Southern Sudanese cities.
Last Thursday, violent clashes broke out between forces loyal to President Kiir and Machar respectively around the Presidential Palace in Juba.
On Sunday, the UN reported the use of mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and heavy ground assault weaponry, and a helicopter gunship was also reported used in Juba.
The first vice-president and the opposition leader Machar was reportedly held president Kiir responsible for the recent events, saying Kiir was not willing for peace.
President Kiir, in the meantime, was reported to have ordered immediate cease-fire on Monday, but media reports indicated continuation of the armed confrontations in the capital Juba.
（APD）
