Machar flies to Khartoum for treatment

Embattled former South Sudan vice president, Riek Machar, has relocated from Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to Sudan's capital Khartoum.

According to his spokesperson, James Gatdek Dak, the politician relocated to Khartoum in order to receive specialised medical treatment.

"Yes, H.E. Dr. Riek Machar is in Khartoum. He has regained strength after exhaustion and a swollen leg. We thank the Sudanese government for the care," he said.

Machar fled Juba to DRC last week following a month of fighting in South Sudan after the alliance between his forces and those of President Salva Kiir collapsed.

"After 40 days of walking on foot in the bushes (wilderness) for hundreds of kilometres, it is obvious that anyone, even a young person, can get exhausted and would need care and plenty of rest for days before resuming his or her duty.

And this is particularly when it was not a normal walk for exercise or hobby or camping, but with helicopter gunships and ground forces bombing him from the air and hunting for him on every single day," Gatdek said.

Before relocating to Khartoum, Machar, his wife Angelina Teny and chief-of-staff, Gen. Simeon Gatwich Dual, had been holed up in Goma.

Machar was early this month replaced by Taban Deng Gai as vice president.