UN expects military reinforcements, critical equipment to arrive in South Sudan in 48 hours

UNITED NATIONS – The head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan says she expects some military reinforcements and critically needed equipment to arrive in 48 hours to strengthen efforts to protect more than 50,000 civilians seeking refuge at U.N. bases.

Hilde Johnson says the U.N. estimates "well over a thousand" people have been killed in 11 days of fighting. She spoke to reporters Thursday by videoconference from the capital, Juba.

The Security Council voted Tuesday to temporarily increase the U.N. force from about 8,000 troops and police to nearly 14,000 and send attack helicopters and other equipment.

Johnson says the main violence now is in Malakal, the capital of oil-rich Upper Nile State, with some fighting in Bor, which the government said it retook from renegade forces earlier in the week.