The US backs African Union (AU) plans to deploy a 4,000 strong “protection force” to bolster the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said.
Uganda provides the biggest contingent of soldiers to the AU force, African Union mission fighting Islamist group al-Shabab in Somalia and joined Amisom in 2007 and has just over 6,000 troops in the 22,000-strong force.
Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Burundi also have troops in Amisom.
Mr Kerry was speaking in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, at the start of his tour of several African countries.
He announced the backing of the South Sudan plan at a press conference in Nairobi after meeting with Foreign minister Sam Kuteesa of Uganda and counterparts from Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan to discuss options for putting the peace process back on track.
Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Minister Amina Mohamed said she wanted the force to be deployed “sooner rather than later”, Reuters reports.
The UN Security Council approved the deployment of troops to South Sudan following renewed fighting in June between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and his former Vice-President Riek Machar.
After the civil war erupted in 2013, Uganda’s forces also crossed into South Sudan to assist with evacuations, but in that case they also stayed on to help President Salva Kiir secure the capital Juba.
