United States Marines On The Move Again; This Time To South Sudan Africa

1
478

marines

The United States is sending in the Marines again. Along with aircraft, Marines are being dispatched to the Horn of Africa in anticipation they may be needed to respond to the violence in South Sudan.

A senior U.S. Defense Department official says that 150 Marines are being moved from Moron, Spain to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti in case the State Department asks for their assistance in evacuating U.S. citizens left in South Sudan. So far, no such request has yet come to evacuate the roughly 100 U.S. citizens left in the country. The decision comes after four U.S. troops were injured Saturday when gunfire hit evacuation aircraft. Three of those troops are stable and being sent to the military hospital in Germany, a spokesman said, while the fourth continues to get treatment in Nairobi, in neighboring Kenya.

There are already a few dozen troops in South Sudan providing security. Others are in Djibouti, where the U.S. maintains its only permanent military base in Africa. There are also ten aircraft stationed there which include C-130 transport planes and Osprey, (pictured below), which are aircraft that can rotate their engines in such a manner that they can take of vertically just as a conventional helicopter can.

The United States is continuing intensive diplomatic efforts to calm the roiling ethnic violence, including holding a meeting between the U.S. special envoy for South Sudan, Donald Booth, and South Sudan President Salva Kiir.

Troops were deployed last week to help evacuate Americans and other foreign nationals and provided security at the U.S. Embassy in Juba. Toby Lanzer, the U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator, said Australians, Ugandans and Ethiopians are also among 15,000 total people seeking protection at a U.N. base in Bor, a city that could see increasing violence in coming days. The death toll from a week of violence has likely surpassed 1,000 people though thee are no firm numbers available, he said. The number of internal refugees has likely surpassed 100,000 said Lanzer, who is seeking urgent financial assistance from the international community.

The violence began on December 15. South Sudan President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, said last week that an attempted military coup had triggered the violence and the blame was placed on former Vice President Riek Machar, an ethnic Nuer. Other officials have since said a fight between Dinka and Nuer members of the presidential guard triggered the fighting which spiraled across the country. Fighting continued over the weekend as the central government acknowledged it has lost control of Bentiu, the capital Unity, a key oil-producing state. East African leaders are leading diplomatic efforts to avoid a full-blown civil war.

The White House issued a strongly worded statement to leaders of the warring factions over the weekend, after the president arrived in Hawaii for his holiday vacation. “Any effort to seize power through the use of military force will result in the end of longstanding support from the United States and the international community,” the statement said.

We ask all to offer a special prayer for all our troops who can not be home for Christmas, especially for those throughout the world who may be in harm’s way.

osprey

Previous articleTrue Brotherly Love!
Next articleGary Bauer; The Greatest Gift Ever Given
After serving in the United States Navy for 22 years I retired from the service late in 1991. Having always loved the southwest, shortly after retiring, I moved to the Albuquerque area where I have resided since. Initially I worked as a contractor for approximately 6 years doing cable construction work. That becoming a little dangerous, at an elevated age, I moved into the retail store management environment managing convenience stores for roughly 16 years. With several disabilities, I am now fully retired and am getting more involved with helping Pastor Dewey & Pastor Paul with their operations at FGGAM which pleases my heart greatly as it truly is - "For God's Glory Alone". I met my precious wife Sandy here in Albuquerque and we have been extremely happily married for 18 years and I am the very proud father to Sandy's wonderful children, Tiana, our daughter, Ryan & Ross, our two sons, and proud grandparents to 5 wonderful grandchildren. We attend Christ Full Deliverance Ministries in Rio Rancho which is lead by Pastor's Marty & Paulette Cooper along with Elder Mable Lopez as regular members. Most of my time is now spent split between my family, my church & helping the Pastors by writing here on the FGGAM website and doing everything I can to support this fantastic ministry in the service of our Lord. Praise to GOD & GOD Bless to ALL! UPDATED 2021: Rick and Sandy moved to Florida a few years ago. We adore them and we pray for Rick as he misses Sandy so very, very much!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.