The African Union will send peacekeeping troops to South Sudan after heads of state backed plans to deploy regional troops in the wake of the latest conflict that left hundreds dead.
Soldiers for the AU force will be drawn from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan and Uganda.
A 12,000-strong UN peacekeeping force is already in the country, but officials say the AU force would have a stronger mandate.
President Salva Kiir last week said he would not allow any more foreign troops into his country, saying that would only worsen the situation.
Troops loyal to President Kiir and those loyal to first vice president Riek Machar engaged in a five-day gun battle in and around Juba earlier this month, killing close to 300 people and displacing thousands others.
The two leaders declared a ceasefire, but Machar left the capital with his troops to an unknown location on the outskirts of Juba. He however said he is not planning for war.
President Kiir also said he does not want any more bloodshed in the country.
“The UN doesn’t have the mandate to impose peace,” the AFP news agency quotes AU Peace and Security Commissioner Smail Chergui as saying at the AU summit in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali.
“They are there where there is peace to keep. African troops are ready to engage in very difficult situations.”
