S Sudan president sacks army chief

No official reason was given for the removal of Gen James Hoth Mai

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has sacked the head of the army.

A decree read out on state television announced that Gen James Hoth Mai would be removed with immediate effect. No reason was given.

The country has been in turmoil since December. Last week rebels seized the oil hub of Bentiu.

Meanwhile the UN has accused the government of providing "erroneous information" regarding a massacre of hundreds of civilians in the town.

South Sudan Minister of Information Michael Lueth was wrong to tell reporters that residents seeking protection had been barred from entering a UN base, the UN mission said in a statement.^[1]

After rebel forces captured Bentiu on 15 and 16 April, they targeted hundreds of people who had taken refuge inside a mosque, a church and a hospital, and killed them because of their ethnicity, the UN Mission in South Sudan (Unmiss) said.

"At no point did the mission ever turn away any civilians who came to its camp to seek protection and instead opened its gates to all unarmed civilians," it added.

Correspondents say last week's killings are among the most shocking since the conflict began.

More than a million people have since been forced from their homes since the conflict began

There has been recent fighting in Upper Nile, Unity and Jonglei states

The rebels say the retreating government forces were responsible.

While no official reason was given for the removal of Gen James Hoth Mai on Wednesday, analysts say the military has suffered several setbacks in the north of the country in recent days.

Gen Paul Malong was named as the new general head of staff.

Analysts note that the sacked army chief hails from the same tribe as that of rebel leader and former Vice-President Riek Machar.

The conflict pits Mr Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, against Mr Machar, from the Nuer community.

A January ceasefire deal has failed to halt fighting that began in December after Mr Kiir accused Mr Machar of plotting to stage a coup.

More than a million people have since been forced from their homes since the violence started.

Peace talks, which were due to resume on Wednesday in neighbouring Ethiopia, have been delayed until 27 April.

Herve Ladsous, the UN's head of peacekeeping, accused both sides of failing to stop the "cycle of violence" on Wednesday.

Speaking at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, he said: "Neither party is ready to in any way cease the hostilities. They do not give indication that they sincerely want to participate in the peace talks."

The town of Bentiu has changed hands several times during the fighting

Bentiu, capital of the oil-rich Unity State, has changed hands several times during the conflict.

Control of the oilfields is crucial because South Sudan gets about 90% of its revenue from oil.

The UN expressed outrage at an attack last week on one of its camps in Bor in Jonglei State, saying it could "constitute a war crime".

That attack by armed youths left at least 58 dead, including children.

Both Mr Kiir and Mr Machar have prominent supporters from various communities, but there have been numerous reports of rebels killing Dinkas and the army targeting Nuers.

The UN has about 8,500 peacekeepers in South Sudan, which became the world newest state after seceding from Sudan in 2011.

Fighting erupted in the South Sudan capital, Juba, in mid-December. It followed a political power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his ex-deputy Riek Machar. The squabble has taken on an ethnic dimension as politicians' political bases are often ethnic.

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%).

References

1. ^{^} the UN mission said in a statement. (unmiss.unmissions.org)