Chinese UN peacekeeper killed in South Sudan fighting

A Chinese UN peacekeeper was among the persons killed during the the renewed fighting in South Sudan's capital Juba, a spokeswoman with the UN Mission in South Sudan said on Monday.

"The casualties on Sunday involved one Chinese and Rwandese," Xinhua news agency quoted deputy spokesperson Shantel Persaud as saying.

However, she did not reveal the name of the killed peacekeeper.

The Chinese peacekeeper was killed on duty at the UNMISS Jebel base, while several other Rwandese peacekeepers were critically injured at the Tomping base near the airport, she said.

Persaud described the fighting on Sunday as "intensive", and condemned the fresh violence in Juba that caused panic among civilians.

The UNMISS reported some 1,000 internally displaced people fled from one of the UNMISS protection of civilians sites to its compounds in Jebel, which suffered small arms and heavy weapons fire.

The UNMISS has run six such sites in various parts of Juba in the past two years, accommodating nearly 170,000 people seeking safety.

--IANS

py/vt