South Sudan rebels control key town

The South Sudanese army is struggling to control several parts

The capital of South Sudan's oil-rich Unity State, Bentiu, has fallen to troops supporting former Vice-President Riek Machar, the army has confirmed.

"Bentiu is not in our hands," said military spokesman Philip Aguer.

Clashes erupted between rival troops a week ago. President Salva Kiir accused Mr Machar of attempting a coup.

On Saturday Mr Machar said his forces controlled Unity State - whose oilfields are crucial to South Sudan's economy - amid fears of a civil war.

Those reports could not be independently confirmed.

However on Sunday Col Aguer told reporters: "Bentiu is in the hands of a commander who has declared support for Machar."

He added that the number of people or wounded in the fighting was unclear.

Unity, a state on the border with Sudan, produces much of South Sudan's oil, which accounts for more than 95% of the country's economy.

Meanwhile the government says it trying to retake the town of Bor in Jonglei State - another regional capital that has fallen to the rebels.

The state has seen fierce fighting in recent days. Two Indian peacekeepers and at least 11 civilians were killed in an attack on a UN compound in Akobo, Jonglei, on Thursday.

On Sunday the United Nations mission in South Sudan, Unmiss, said it had begun relocating staff from the capital Juba to the Ugandan city of Entebbe.

"We are not abandoning South Sudan," UN representative for South Sudan Hilde Johnson said. "We are here to stay, and will carry on in our collective resolve to work with and for the people of South Sudan."

Juba has been tense since the unrest began last weekend.

Resident Mogga Lado told the BBC: "I was buying some things for my children in the market on Tuesday when I saw two people dressed in normal civilian clothes shot dead in front of me by people in military clothing.

"I don't know if they were the army or rebels. I didn't wait to see."

Mr Machar told the BBC on Saturday that he was prepared to negotiate with the government if politicians arrested this week were released and transferred to a neutral country such as Ethiopia.

Mr Kiir also agreed to negotiations after meeting African mediators on Friday.

President Kiir, a member of the majority Dinka ethnic group, sacked Mr Machar, who is from the Nuer community, in July.

The violence which broke out in Juba last weekend has since spread, pitting gangs of Nuer and Dinka against each other.

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Sunday that he was "very concerned at the situation in South Sudan".

He added that it was "vital that all leaders urge restraint on their supporters and commit to a political resolution of their differences".

Sudan's arid north is mainly home to Arabic-speaking Muslims. But in South Sudan there is no dominant culture. The Dinkas and the Nuers are the largest of more than 200 ethnic groups, each with its own languages and traditional beliefs, alongside Christianity and Islam.

Both Sudan and the South are reliant on oil revenue, which accounts for 98% of South Sudan's budget. They have fiercely disagreed over how to divide the oil wealth of the former united state - at one time production was shutdown for more than a year. Some 75% of the oil lies in the South but all the pipelines run north

The two Sudans are very different geographically. The great divide is visible even from space, as this Nasa satellite image shows. The northern states are a blanket of desert, broken only by the fertile Nile corridor. South Sudan is covered by green swathes of grassland, swamps and tropical forest.

After gaining independence in 2011, South Sudan is the world's newest country - and one of its poorest. Figures from 2010 show some 69% of households now have access to clean water - up from 48% in 2006. However, just 2% of households have water on the premises.

Just 29% of children attend primary school in South Sudan - however this is also an improvement on the 16% recorded in 2006. About 32% of primary-age boys attend, while just 25% of girls do. Overall, 64% of children who begin primary school reach the last grade.

Almost 28% of children under the age of five in South Sudan are moderately or severely underweight - this compares with the 33% recorded in 2006. Unity state has the highest proportion of children suffering malnourishment (46%), while Central Equatoria has the lowest (17%).

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