UK will be sending more troops to South Sudan and the troops may protect humanitarian aid from being looted by warring factions in the renewed civil war
“This is a combined effort so I think it’s important to say we are working together at every single level. The humanitarian piece is absolutely crucial, it really is, but also we are sending troops over in a very important role. I think it’s fair to acknowledge the role that they are going to be playing is a strategic role and it’s a very important one but the UK’s effort is a combined effort,” said Britain’s Secretary of State for the Department for International Development, Priti Patel to Sky News. She dodged the question on whether UK troops could fight in South Sudan to protect aid
Britain will be sending 300 soldiers, mostly engineers, to support the 12,000-strong peacekeeping force in South Sudan, the world’s youngest country according to the Sky News.
During the 1990s civil war, armed groups stole 80% of all food and fuel that was sent as humanitarian supplies and used the aid to continue their war with the north, and with each other
The latest round of conflict has pitted the government of President Salva Kiir, a member of the Dinka tribe, against his rival and vice president Riek Machar, who is from the Nuer ethnic group.
