US ready to deploy marines to conflict in South Sudan

The United States was today poised to deploy a “crisis response team” of 150 marines as the conflict in South Sudan appeared to be sliding towards civil war with evidence of mass ethnic killings.

The head of the US military’s Africa Command has moved the marines from Spain to a base in nearby Djibouti in case the State Department requests additional assistance.

UN chief Ban Ki-Moon has urged the Security Council to add to the 7,000-strong UN force in the country, requesting 5,500 more troops be reassigned from missions in other African countries. A reporter in the capital, Juba, quoted witnesses as saying more than 200 people, mostly from the Nuer ethnic group, had been shot by government forces.

The violence is the result of a power struggle between President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, and his Nuer ex-deputy Riek Machar. The fighting erupted in Juba last week and has spread throughout South Sudan, with rebels supporting Mr Machar seizing the major towns of Bor and Bentiu, north of the capital.