JUBA Heavy fighting around the town of Malakal in South Sudan killed dozens of people over the weekend, a military spokesman said on Sunday, after rebels said they would try to seize control of the town.The rebels had attacked government positions on Friday night but the military had held their ground, army spokesman Lul Ruai Koang said. "Our forces were able to successfully drive them back with heavy casualties. Over 56 rebels were killed," he told a group of journalists whom the government had flown to Malakal on Sunday to see the situation. "We came here ... to let the people of South Sudan, and in particular the region, know that Malakal was not captured by the rebels as reported over the weekend." It was not possible to independently verify the reported casualty figures, but a Reuters photographer who flew to Lalo, a camp near Malakal, with the military saw 15 bodies nearby, a burned building within the base, and bodies scattered in other positions. Soldiers said they were expecting another attack.
On Friday, the rebels said they had captured Lalo and the nearby location of Wajwok, and planned to seize Malakal."We want to make sure that the government are dislodged from the town and we take control," deputy rebel spokesperson Dickson Gatluak told Reuters by phone from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
Oil-rich South Sudan descended into civil war in December 2013 when a row between President Salva Kiir and his sacked deputy Riek Machar ended with fighting that often occurred along ethnic fault lines. Both sides have targeted civilians, human rights groups say. The fighting initially ended with a peace deal signed in 2015, but violations have been frequent, and heavy fighting broke out again in July. Machar fled the country and is now in South Africa for medical treatment. Gatluak said the international community's failure to enforce the 2015 agreement was a major reason for renewed hostilities. "We realized that there is not any political space, there is not any political settlement in (the capital) Juba. The international community and the IGAD itself have failed us ... they failed to keep that fragile peace agreement," he said, referring to the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a political bloc of East African countries. Last week, violence in South Sudan killed at least 60 people, the military said. The United Nations said it had reports of civilians being burned alive in buses. (Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Newer articles:
- South Sudan's second largest city scorched by renewed fighting - 18/10/2016 09:05
- South Sudan's protracted refugees in Uganda - 18/10/2016 07:23
- 'I'm going to return to South Sudan' says Riek Machar - 18/10/2016 05:53
- At least 60 killed as fighting surges in South Sudan - 17/10/2016 05:49
- South Sudan is bleeding itself dry - 16/10/2016 16:12
Older news items
- South Sudan: Exclusive - I Want to Meet President Zuma, Says S Sudan Rebel Leader - 16/10/2016 08:23
- South Sudan spends budget on fighting as people starve - 15/10/2016 03:10
- Week of violence in South Sudan kills 60, government says - 14/10/2016 10:52
- In South Sudan, Machar Says Party Wants Peace But Prepares for War - 14/10/2016 10:42
- UN Mission Expresses Grave Concern Over Increased Violence In South Sudan - 13/10/2016 09:47
Latest news items (all categories):
- South Sudan’s ‘Game Of Thrones’ Continues – Analysis - 01/12/2024 17:47
- South Sudan secured over 282 150 doses of oral cholera vaccine to contain the cholera outbreak - 01/12/2024 17:43
- The idea of one nation and one people is a distortion of our reality!!! - 29/11/2024 12:54
- In South Sudan with aid boss John Rynne: 'The maps drawn in colonial times are starting to erode' - 29/11/2024 12:47
- 'They have nothing': Aid workers struggle to save lives at edge of war-torn Sudan - 29/11/2024 12:36
Random articles (all categories):
- South Sudan Officials Blame UN for Deadly Attack in Bor - 19/04/2014 02:50
- South Sudan says it will consider stop using child soldiers as long as it can still kill gay people - 31/03/2017 17:50
- UN: South Sudan’s Oil Patch Is Living On Borrowed Time - 03/03/2020 13:11
- Over 8,000 affected by floods in Mayiendit County - 17/10/2022 01:58
- Thousands of trucks pile in Elegu as drivers strike over attacks in South Sudan - 31/08/2021 00:25
Popular articles:
- Who is the darkest person in the world, according to Guinness World Record? - 25/10/2022 02:34 - Read 58400 times
- No oil in troubled waters - 25/03/2014 15:02 - Read 22214 times
- School exam results in South Sudan show decline - 01/04/2012 17:58 - Read 21356 times
- NDSU student from South Sudan receives scholarship - In-Forum - 29/09/2012 01:44 - Read 18881 times
- Top 10 weakest currency exchange rates in Africa in 2023 - 19/07/2023 00:24 - Read 17990 times