At least 40 killed in south Sudan river ambush

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - At least 40 south Sudanese soldiers and civilians were killed when tribal fighters ambushed river barges carrying U.N. food aid, in the latest in a string of ethnic attacks, officials said on Sunday.

Armed members of the Jikany Nuer group opened fire on 27 boats loaded with emergency rations destined for an area controlled by the rival Lou Nuer tribe on Friday afternoon, the U.N. World Food Program said.

Hundreds have been killed and more than 135,000 displaced in south Sudan in 2009 in a surge of tribal killings rooted it long-standing feuds over cattle but aggravated by political discontent and weapons left over from two decades of civil war.

The minister of information for Upper Nile State Thon Mom told Reuters Friday's attack killed at least 40 people including troops from the south's Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) who were escorting the convoy.

"Women and children who were on the boats were also killed, either directly by bullets or by drowning after jumping into the river," said SPLA spokesman Malaak Ayuen Ajok.

He said the Jikany Nuer fighters had first demanded to search some of the barges, south of the settlement of Nasir on the Sobat river, suspecting they were carrying arms and ammunition to their Lou Nuer enemy.

They searched one, finding only sorghum and other rations, but opened fire when the rest of the convoy continued on its journey, he added.

Both Ajok and Mom said they were awaiting detailed information on the attack. "It could be less than 40 killed. It could be more than 40 killed. We should find out later today," said Ajok.

INNOCENT SUFFER

The United Nations said there were fears for the fate of thousands of displaced people in and around Akobo now left without food aid after the attack.

"There are people who are desperately in need of food," said the WFP's program director in south Sudan Michelle Iseminger. "As always, it is the elderly, the women and the children who are most in need."

The WFP flew in an emergency delivery of 10 metric tons of food aid on Saturday, she added, short of the 735 metric tons that were either destroyed or looted from the boats.

"This year there have been roughly 135,000 people displaced by the violence. This time last year it was about half that number, and the year before even less," Iseminger said.

"Things are definitely getting worse and it is mostly the innocent who are suffering."

Heavy rains in Sudan's semi-autonomous south have wiped out roads and left the Sobat river, a tributary of the White Nile, the only viable route for large deliveries of food aid to the remote area.

Analysts say the rise in tribal violence threatens the fragile peace in the region achieved after a 2005 accord ended more than two decades of north-south civil war.

The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement promised national elections, due in February 2010, and a referendum on southern secession in 2011.

But many in the south have been left frustrated by continuing lack of development and stagnation in the region's oil-fueled economy.