Uganda admits combat role in South Sudan
Uganda’s president says his troops have joined forces with the South Sudanese military and are fighting in Bor to end a rebellion in the world’s newest country.
Lieutenant Colonel Paddy Ankunda, the military spokesman, said on Thursday that Ugandan forces were helping loyalist forces flush rebels out of Bor, the strategic town near the capital of Juba that has seen some of the fiercest clashes since violence broke out in South Sudan in mid-December.
Ugandan officials have previously denied that their troops have joined the fight, saying their forces were deployed in South Sudan mainly to aid civilian evacuations.
The involvement of a foreign army in South Sudan’s conflict could escalate a crisis set off by a power struggle between President Salva Kiir and Riek Machar, the fugitive former deputy president who commands rebel forces. Egyptians have overwhelmingly voted in favour of a new constitution drafted by the army-backed interim government, according to early results. The tally, released on Thursday, also show that turnout in this week’s referendum was at least modestly higher than a 2012 constitutional ballot held during the rule of the deposed president, Mohamed Morsi.
An unofficial tally from 25 of Egypt’s 27 governorates showed that 97 percent of voters said yes to the constitution, with less than one percent voting no. The remaining ballots were spoiled or otherwise invalid.
There are no results yet from Cairo, the country’s most populous governorate, or from North Sinai.
But turnout was about 38 percent, with 17.4 million people voting, putting it ahead of 2012, when 17 million people participated, roughly 33 percent of registered voters.
Galal Mustafa Saeed, the governor of Cairo, said he expected turnout in the city to top 40 percent, though that figure could not be verified.