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UN Rushes Troops to Protect South Sudanese as Peace Talks Resume

UN Rushes Troops to Protect South Sudanese as Peace Talks Resume

(Bloomberg) -- Peacekeepers were rushed to South Sudan’s north to protect civilians targeted in clashes between government forces and rebels, the United Nations said, as talks to end the over four-year civil war resumed.

The UN is adding as many as 150 further troops in the Unity region, where at least 30 settlements have been attacked and there’s been “deliberate killing of civilians” and the “sexual violation and abduction of women and children,” the local mission said Thursday in a statement. Thousands of civilians have fled the violence.

The conflict that began in the East African nation in December 2013 has already left tens of thousands of people dead and driven 4 million from homes. Peace talks resumed Thursday in neighboring Ethiopia between the government and opposition groups in an attempt to revive a 2015 power-sharing deal.

To contact the reporter on this story: Okech Francis in Juba at fokech@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Michael Gunn, Jacqueline Mackenzie

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