Unmiss Welcomes The Deployment Of Uk C-130 Aircraft To South Sudan

JUBA, South Sudan, March 30, 2015/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) welcomes the temporary deployment of a British Royal Air Force C-130 aircraft to South Sudan. The aircraft, which has arrived on 28 March in Juba, will conduct daily flights to Malakal (Upper Nile) to enable the delivery of vital supplies and vehicles to the UNMISS base and its Protection of Civilians' site. The operation is expected to last until mid-April.

The use of such aircraft will temporarily double the C-130 air-lift capacity of UNMISS to Malakal. With the impending rainy season, 60% of the roads in South Sudan will be impassable and Malakal mostly reachable by river barges; the timing of the air operation is therefore crucial to re-supply the UN base during the dry season.

This is the first deployment of a United Kingdom C-130 as part of the UN's Air Transport Fleet to the United Nations in Africa. The operation is supported by a small British military team based in Entebbe (Uganda), with forward elements deployed to Juba and Malakal. In December 2014, the United Kingdom also deployed a technical team of twelve military engineers to help map out and design the expansion and improvement of the UN base and Protection of Civilians sites in Malakal.

The conflict in South Sudan has given rise to 112,000 internally displaced civilians seeking protection in UN compounds, with over 21,000 having sought safety in the Malakal Protection of Civilians' site.