Heavy troop presence in South Sudan's Equatoria region

There has been a steady buildup of government troops in South Sudan’s restive Equatoria region where insurgents of the rebel National Salvation Front are active.As of Wednesday, a heavy troop presence was observed in central Equatoria as military sources hint at a possible showdown with the NAS.

There are eyewitness accounts of tanks and heavy military equipment being moved into the area.

This comes just days after NAS targeted and killed bodyguards of vice-president James Wani Igga in the region.

The South Sudanese VP was not part of the targeted motorcade.

The troop movement began on Monday as the South Sudanese military intensify its hunt for those responsible for the attack.

South Sudan has been rocked by instability since its independence from the rest of Sudan in 2011.

An abortive coup in 2013 had set the stage for a low=0key civil war which had killed tens of thousands and driven more than two million people from their homes.

The world’s newest country seemed to have turned a corner when President Salva Kiir and his long-standing political foe Riak Machar joined a power-sharing government of national unity.