Kenya begins withdrawal of soldiers from South Sudan
What you need to know:
- The plane carrying the soldiers touched down at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport at 1.15pm, as a similar number was expected to arrive in the evening.
- Maj-Gen Benjamin Biwott, the general officer in charge of the Eastern Command, received the soldiers and said 1,000 soldiers are expected in the country over the next few days.
Kenya's withdrawal from the South Sudan peacekeeping mission has started.
The first batch of 100 Kenya Defence Forces soldiers arrived at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) from Juba on Wednesday aboard an Ocean Airlines plane.
A similar number of soldiers were expected to arrive in Nairobi on Wednesday evening.
The plane carrying the soldiers touched down at JKIA at 1.15pm.
The soldiers are among 1,000 to return home after President Uhuru Kenyatta announced he would pull out Kenyan troops serving under the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
President Kenyatta was responding to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s decision to sack Lt-Gen Johnson Mogoa Kimani Ondieki of Kenya as commander of UNMISS after a report stated that the officer had failed to protect civilians during heavy fighting in Juba in July.
Maj-Gen Benjamin Biwott, the general officer in charge of the Eastern Command, received the soldiers and said 1,000 soldiers are expected in the country over the next few days.
Maj-Gen Biwott said the troops would return home in batches, depending on the UN's logistical arrangements.
