Juba (AFP) - South Sudan rebels battling government forces rejected peace efforts Thursday as the region scrambled to prevent the world's youngest state from collapsing only two years after its birth.
Troops loyal to fugitive former vice president Riek Machar seized the town of Bor late Wednesday, army spokesman Philip Aguer said, as fighting continued in eastern Jonglei state.
Attackers stormed a UN base in the remote Jonglei town of Akobo where civilians were sheltering Thursday, a heartland of the Lou Nuer people, UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said, with "some fatalities" feared.
President Salva Kiir has blamed the bloodshed on a coup bid by his perennial rival Machar, who says the alleged overthrow was a fabrication to cover up a regime purge.
Kiir has said he was ready to "sit down" but Machar, who was sacked by the president in July, rejected the offer.
In an interview with RFI radio Thursday, Machar said he had appealed to the ruling party and army "to remove Salva Kiir from the leadership of the country".
Some 450 people had been killed in the capital Juba since battles broke out on Sunday, including around 100 soldiers, Aguer said.
AFP reporters said the city was calm on Thursday.
The battles have raised concerns of ethnic conflict, with Kiir coming from the majority Dinka people and Machar from the Nuer.
UN human rights chief Navi Pillay has also expressed deep concern over reports of "numerous extra-judicial killings" and "civilians killed in Juba based on their ethnicity".
Human Rights Watch said witnesses had reported horrific cases of both soldiers and rebels executing people based on their tribe, warning of "revenge attacks".
However, the government insists the clashes are over power and politics, noting that both sides include leaders from different tribes.
"We condemn in strongest possible terms attempts to depict (the) coup as ethnic strife," a government statement Thursday read, noting that of the 11 key figures arrested since fighting began -- many former powerful minsters -- only two were Nuer.
[1]A handout photo from UNMISS (United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan) shows UNMISS off …
'On the cusp of a civil war'
The United Nations peacekeeping mission said it was sheltering civilians in six state capitals, including Juba and Bor, as well as in Bentiu, the main town of the crucial petroleum-producing state of Unity.
At least five oil workers were killed in Unity when attackers broke into their compound late on Wednesday, a company official said.
Oil production forms over 95 percent of South Sudan's fledgling economy.
Foreigners were being evacuated from the troubled country, with the United States and Britain sending in flights for their citizens, and others fleeing overland south to Uganda.
Long lines of aid workers and expatriates began crowding Juba's airport on Wednesday waiting to board the first flight they could out of the country, with delays after an aircraft that crash landed -- with no casualties -- blocked the runway for several hours.
[2]People arrive to seek refuge in the UNMISS compound in Juba, on December 18, 2013 (AFP Photo/)
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has warned fighting could spread.
"There is a risk of this violence spreading to other states, and we have already seen some signs of this," Ban said, adding the crisis "urgently needs to be dealt with through political dialogue".
There were fears that the poor and unstable nation, which broke free from Sudan in 2011, could slide into all-out conflict.
"The scenario many feared but dared not contemplate looks frighteningly possible: South Sudan, the world's newest state, is now arguably on the cusp of a civil war," the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank warned.
'Ghastly acts of revenge'
Top ministers from four regional countries flew in Thursday to try to launch peace efforts.
Kenya's Foreign Minister Amina Mohammed told AFP she was working with diplomats from Djibouti, Ethiopia and Uganda, calling the crisis a "regional issue."
All are members of a regional body, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), whose members played key roles in pushing forward the 2005 deal that ended Sudan's two-decades long civil war with the south.
The capture of Bor raises ugly ghosts from South Sudan's past.
The town, which lies some 200 kilometres (125 miles) north of Juba, is the capital of the state of Jonglei, one of the most volatile regions in the young nation.
Machar, who fought on both sides during Sudan's 1983-2005 civil war, has been accused of leading a brutal massacre in Bor in 1991.
Powerful military commander Peter Gadet -- who rebelled in 2011 but then rejoined the army -- has also mutinied again, launching attacks in Jonglei in support of Machar.
"They are fighting in the bush," said Aguer.
Jok Madut Jok, a former government minister and academic now running Juba's Sudd Institute think tank, warned that while the capital was now calm there had been "ghastly acts of revenge... stoking what might escalate into tragic acts of ethnic cleansing."
- Politics & Government
- Unrest, Conflicts & War
- Riek Machar
- South Sudan
References
- ^ A handout photo from UNMISS (United Nations Mission … (news.yahoo.com)
- ^ People arrive to seek refuge in the UNMISS compound … (news.yahoo.com)
Source http://news.yahoo.com/south-sudan-rebels-seize-key-town-bor-army-071526229.html
Newer articles:
- South Sudan at 'precipice' amid growing violence - 20/12/2013 08:19
- UN says peacekeeping base in South Sudan attacked, deaths reported - 20/12/2013 07:05
- India: 3 UN peacekeepers dead in South Sudan - 19/12/2013 23:40
- Ethnic violence spreads in South Sudan - 19/12/2013 20:57
- US, Brits evacuate South Sudan as violence spreads - 19/12/2013 20:14
Older news items
- S. Sudan gov't loses control of province capital - 19/12/2013 14:57
- Foreigners evacuate South Sudan as civil war threat grows - 19/12/2013 13:58
- South Sudan blames violence on ethnic tensions - 19/12/2013 11:59
- South Sudan rebels take flashpoint town - 19/12/2013 11:08
- South Sudan on brink of civil war: analysts - 19/12/2013 10:26
Latest news items (all categories):
- South Sudan sets 22 December for country's long-delayed first-ever election - 23/06/2026 15:44
- Ambassador Enarsson Backs Campaign to End Sexual Violence in Conflict at Juba Advocacy Event - 23/06/2026 15:41
- Rampant Junior Starlets crush South Sudan to clinch CECAFA bronze - 23/06/2026 15:26
- Validating Progress Towards Closing Immunity Gaps in South Sudan - 23/06/2026 15:23
- تحديد موعد أول انتخابات في تاريخ جنوب السودان - 23/06/2026 15:14
Random articles (all categories):
- Expel rebel asylum seekers, South Sudan urges IGAD - 25/04/2018 18:00
- Sudan: Blue Nile Civilians Describe Indiscriminate Bombings, Killings - Huffington Post - 23/04/2012 16:08
- Swiss Abroad: life in South Sudan - 23/05/2023 10:31
- Sudan: Armed Motorcycle Gang Kills Trader, Loots Over Sdg40 Million From Convoy - 01/04/2022 02:14
- South Sudan's Kiir applying divisive policies: Amum - 17/03/2021 17:00
Popular articles:
- Who is the darkest person in the world, according to Guinness World Record? - 25/10/2022 02:34 - Read 146572 times
- School exam results in South Sudan show decline - 01/04/2012 17:58 - Read 27535 times
- Top 10 weakest currency exchange rates in Africa in 2023 - 19/07/2023 00:24 - Read 24697 times
- No oil in troubled waters - 25/03/2014 15:02 - Read 24030 times
- NDSU student from South Sudan receives scholarship - In-Forum - 29/09/2012 01:44 - Read 21908 times
