The United Nations Security Council has decided to almost double the number of UN peacekeepers in South Sudan to protect civilians from violence a week after civil war broke out in the country.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that the additional 5, 500 peacekeeping troops and 423 police would be drawn from nearby UN and African Union missions in Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Liberia, and the Sudanese regions of Darfur and Abyei, News24 reports.
Ban told the 15-member council that five infantry battalions, three attack helicopters, three utility helicopters, one C-130 military transport aircraft and three police units were needed to bolster the UN mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
The UN mission currently has around 6, 700 troops and 670 police on the ground.
Clashes broke out between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and others backing his former deputy rebel leader Riek Macha on 15 December in the capital Juba, and have spread to oil-producing regions and beyond.
Kiir, a member of the Dinka ethnic group, has accused Machar, a Nuer who was sacked in July, of attempting to seize power by force.
Nearly 45, 000 civilians were seeking protection at UN bases, the report added.