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UNITED NATIONS: The UN peacekeeping force in Congo has evacuated some 300 supporters of South Sudan’s opposition leader Riek Machar, many of whom were wounded, acutely malnourished or in life-threatening condition, the United Nations said late on Friday.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the armed fighters and civilians crossed into Congo from South Sudan with Machar, who was evacuated from Garamba National Park with his wife, son and 10 aides on Aug.17.

He said the UN mission evacuated about 300 of Machar’s supporters from Garamba Park, in northeast Congo near the border with South Sudan, between Aug.24 and Sept.5, on humanitarian grounds.

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011, but it was rocked by a civil war that began in December 2013 when government forces loyal to Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, battled rebels led by Machar, his former deputy who is a Nuer.

Reuters