more bloodshed between warring parties unless immediate interventions are put in place, security sources in Kampala have said. In a three-phased exercise that ran between July 14 and 19, a joint operation by the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) and the police led to the return of some 20,000 Ugandans, more than 500 Kenyans, and 12 from other nationalities. The majority were removed from Juba, the centre of the most recent clashes. The UN refugee agency reported that more than 26,000 people fled South Sudan into Uganda. "We have been told openly that whoever wants peace in South Sudan should let the war go on. Something is boiling and it could erupt," said a Ugandan electrician who had worked for five years in Juba. "There is a mass exodus. No one wants to be left there. Even the locals don't want to remain. Everyone appears to be looking for somewhere to go. Some people even openly say what is going to happen once this is over," said a Kenyan security instructor who had also spent five years working in Juba. Both men say when the last conflict broke out on December 15, 2013, they did not leave the capital because the fighting was 200km away in Bor, Malakal and Bentiu. Ugandan security officials who oversaw the evacuation share in these concerns, but say Uganda cannot overstep its evacuation mandate that tentatively ended on July 19, pending further orders from Kampala. "Until Uganda is called upon, we shall not go in. This is purely an evacuation mission and we will not do more than that," said Brig Leopold Kyanda, the chief of staff of the land forces in the UPDF. Brig Kyanda jointly supervised the evacuation with Asuman Mugenyi, the director of operations in the police. "The government will consider any requests to intervene at the appropriate time. But as a neighbour who has invested in South Sudan, we are more concerned about what happens afterwards," said Lt Col Paddy Ankunda, the army spokesperson. Two ethnic groups, the Dinka and the Nuer, dominate the political space of South Sudan's 64 tribes. President Salva Kiir is from the Dinka tribe and First Vice President Riek Machar is from the Nuer tribe. Dr Machar has rejected an ultimatum to return to Juba within 48 hours, which was issued by President Kiir on Thursday. The spokesman for Dr Machar, James Gatdet Dak, said his boss would not land in Juba before the deployment of the third force from the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad). "The First Vice-President will return to Juba once a third force is deployed. President Salva Kiir's 48 hours ultimatum is unnecessary," Mr Dak said.
