World Briefs: Violence in South Sudan leaves 300 dead

Violence in South Sudan leaves 300 dead

JUBA • At least 300 people have been killed in four days of intense gun battles in the capital of South Sudan and 42,000 have fled the city, the UN said yesterday.

The recent violence in Juba echoes the fighting that triggered the civil war and marks a fresh blow to last year's peace deal to end the bitter conflict that began when President Salva Kiir accused ex-rebel and now Vice-President Riek Machar of plotting a coup.

According to the United Nations, there were 114,000 South Sudanese refugees in neighbouring countries before December 2013 but that figure has ballooned to 835,000 now.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE


Alleged attacks on refugees in Hungary

GENEVA • The UN refugee agency urged Hungary yesterday to investigate reports that its forces had beaten asylum seekers and unleashed police dogs on them - and decried a new law allowing irregular migrants to be taken back outside a border fence.

Mr Janos Lazar, Minister in Charge of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's office, denied on Thursday that Hungarian police or soldiers had mistreated asylum seekers and described their performance as "outstanding".

REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 16, 2016, with the headline World Briefs: Violence in South Sudan leaves 300 dead. Subscribe