JUBA, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- The first batch of the Rwandan soldiers, part of the much-waited Regional Protection Force (RPF) have arrived in the South Sudanese capital Juba, the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) spokesman said on Monday.
Daniel Dickinson told Xinhua that the 120 Rwandan infantry soldiers arrived in the war-torn country on Sunday and will join up with the 150 strong Nepalese and Bangladeshi troops made up of the quick responsive and engineering battalion respectively.
"Of course yes, 120 Rwandan infantry soldiers arrived over the weekend with equipment," Dickinson revealed in Juba.
South Sudan accepted the deployment of the 4,000 strong protection force in November 2016, and had been still reluctant to speed up the RPF deployment in Juba, following renewed clashes in July last year between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar who is in exile in South Africa.
The RPF takes charge of civilian protection, key installations in the country and reports directly to UNMISS which has 12,000 peacekeepers on ground.
The Head of the UN Peacekeeping Mission Jean Pierre Lacroix, said last week after holding talks with South Sudanese leaders that the RPF would help provide security in danger spot areas to avoid ongoing civilian killings by armed groups.
He added they were talking to regional countries like Kenya and Ethiopia to provide more troops to the largely African peacekeeping force.
South Sudan descended into violence in December 2013 after political dispute between President Kiir and his former deputy Machar led to fighting that pitted mostly Dinka ethnic soldiers loyal to Kiir against Machar's Nuer ethnic group.
The 2015 peace agreement to end the violence was again violated in July 2016 when the rival factions resumed fighting in the capital forcing Machar to flee into exile.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions that have sought refuge in neighbouring countries.
