"Due to the current instability in Juba the Foreign Office has taken the decision to temporarily withdraw some staff and dependents," a Foreign Office spokesman said Wednesday, advising British citizens not to travel to the country.
The spokesman declined to reveal how many staff members were being moved out following days of fierce fighting in Juba between forces loyal to South Sudanese President Slava Kiir and those supporting opposition leader Riek Machar.
According to figures from the United Nations, between 400 and 500 people have been killed and approximately 15,000 others have sought refuge at UN compounds around the capital.
The violence broke out on December 15 after an alleged coup attempt, which the South Sudanese president has accused his archrival and former deputy, Machar, of orchestrating.
The government said on Tuesday that ten senior political figures were arrested after the alleged coup attempt.
South Sudan gained independence in July 2011 after its people overwhelmingly voted in a referendum to split from the North.
The government in Juba is grappling with rampant corruption, unrest and conflict in the deeply impoverished but oil-rich nation, left devastated by decades of war.
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