Shooting in South Sudan continues, about 300 killed

Tank in Juba. (Photo Sudan Tribune)

Heavy fighting erupted again in South Sudan's capital on Monday a day after the U.N. Security Council told rivals President Salva Kiir andVice-President Riek Machar to rein in their forces and end days of violence that have left scores dead.
The capital has been mired in fighting almost every day since Thursday when troops loyal to Kiir and soldiers backing former rebel leader Machar first clashed.There has been no official death toll but at least five soldiers died on Thursday and a Health Ministry source said 272 people, including 33 civilians, were killed on Friday. After a brief lull on Saturday, Sunday's fighting appeared even more fierce.
Shantal Persaud, spokeswoman for the U.N. mission UNMISS, told Reuters by telephone that gunfire had erupted on Monday around the U.N. headquarters in the Jebel area of Juba and also around a base near the airport. U.N. bases were hit by small arms and heavy weapons on Sunday.
The Sudan Tribune adds that  also sustained shooting have been heard in the areas of Gudele, Tongping near Juba airport. Shootings have also resumed at the airport area and sounds of heavy machine guns could be heard.

SPLA-rebels kill hundreds in South Sudanese city of Bentiu

Oil installations in Bentiu. Bentiu is the capital of Unity State and the main oil producing city in South Sudan. (Photo AFP).  

Hundreds of people were killed because of their ethnic group after South Sudan rebels of the SPLA of Riek Machar seized the oil hub of Bentiu last week, the UN has said. The opposition troops targeted a mosque, a church and a hospital, the UN Mission in South Sudan (Unmiss) said in a statement. It added that hate speech was broadcast on local radio stations, saying certain groups should leave the town and urging men to rape women.
Non-Nuer South Sudanese and foreign nationals were singled out and killed, Unmiss said.

South Sudan and rebels sign ceasefire

South Sudan's government and rebels signed a ceasefire on Thursday to end more than five weeks of fighting that divided Africa's newest nation and brought it to the brink of civil war.
U.S. President Barack Obama, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the U.N. Security Council welcomed the news, but several diplomatic sources in New York said they were worried the killing could continue.
Fighting between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and those backing the vice president he sacked in July, Riek Machar, erupted in mid-December. Thousands of people have been killed and more than half a million people have fled their homes, prompting the regional grouping of nations, IGAD, to initiate peace talks. More than 70,000 people have sought refuge at U.N. bases around the country after peacekeepers, in an unusual move, opened their gates to them.
The pact is expected to be implemented within 24 hours of the signing, mediators said.

South Sudan peace negotiations have a difficult start

South Sudanese rebel delegation in Addis Abeba at the opnining of the talks. (Reuters)

South Sudan rejected rebel calls for an immediate release of detainees after the two sides met briefly for the first time on Tuesday seeking to end fighting that has left the world's newest state on the brink of civil war.
The Meetings in neighboring Ethiopia are aimed at brokering a ceasefire to halt three weeks of violence that has killed at least 1,000 people and driven 200,000 from their homes.The fighting, often along ethnic faultlines, has pitted President Salva Kiir's SPLA government forces against the rebels loyal to Machar.
The talks opened on Tuesday but quickly took a break for consultations in Juba about the fate of the 11 detainees, arrested last year over an alleged coup plot. The rebels had initially demanded their release before the negotiations.

Two sides in S-Sudan agree to talks, fighting continues in Bor

 
 President Salva Kiir (with hat) and (then) vice-president Riek Machar (to his left) during the celebrations of South Sudan's independence.

Ethiopia says South Sudan's government and rebel leader Riek Machar are sending delegations to Addis Ababa for peace talks. The Ethiopian government announced the negotiations Tuesday, the day the East African bloc IGAD had set as a deadline for the two sides in South Sudan to hold face-to-face negotiations.
More than two weeks of violence in South Sudan continued Tuesday with fresh fighting in the key city of Bor, which government forces recaptured from rebels last week. The French news agency quoted a rebel spokesman as saying fighters backing Machar had re-taken control of Bor.
Tuesday's fighting followed renewed calls by the United Nations and African Union for an immediate end to the fighting. Statements from the U.N. Security Council and the A.U.'s Peace and Security Council late Monday said dialogue should begin immediately between President Salva Kiir and Machar, his former vice president.The African Union also urged Kiir's government to release detained political leaders, and threatened to impose sanctions on those who continue to incite violence.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni visited Kiir on Monday, and warned Machar to sign a cease-fire deal or face action from its neighbors.
The medical aid group Doctors Without Borders said Monday tens of thousands of South Sudanese have fled Bor since violence broke out there last week between government troops and the Machar-backed force - the so called "White Army." White Army youths are known for the white powder they use to cover their skin as an insect repellant. Like Machar, they are ethnic Nuers while President Kiir and his loyalists are ethnic Dinka.

UN send more peacekeepers to S-Sudan where casualties are feared to be in the thousands

Refugees camping in a warehouse of the UN mission in Jabel, on tjhe outskirts of the South Sudanese capital Juba. (Reuters) 

The U.N. Security Council approved plans on Tuesday to almost double the number of peacekeepers in South Sudan in an effort to protect civilians as reports of mass graves fueled fears of a worsening of ethnic bloodletting in the world's newest state.
The move came as the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in the country said the death toll from the past 10 days of violence was likely now in the thousands, rather than the hundreds the world body had previously estimated. "I think it's undeniable at this stage that there must have been thousands of people who have lost their lives," Toby Lanzer told the BBC's Newshour program. "When I've looked at the hospitals in key towns and I've looked at the hospitals in the capital itself, the range of injuries, this is no longer a situation where we can merely say it's hundreds of people who've lost their lives," he said.
Lanzer was speaking from a U.N. compound in the rebel-held city of Bentiu, capital of Unity state.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the crisis had displaced an estimated 81,000 people, though the real number was likely to be higher.With some 45,000 civilians seeking protection at U.N. bases, the 15-member Security Council unanimously authorized a plan by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to boost the strength of the peacekeeping force in South Sudan to 12,500 troops and 1,323 police.The additional personnel will reinforce U.N. bases where civilians are seeking shelter.

South Sudanese army looses control over northern oil producing Unity State.

South Sudan’s army has lost control over the 4^th Division in the oil-producing Unity State in the north after the commander of the force defected and declared himself military governor of the state. Mutineers clashed with troops loyal to President Kiir inside the barracks of the SPLA 4^thDivision in Bentiu since about 7:00 p.m. Friday, Radio Tamazuj has learned. Heavy fighting over four hours resulted in the retreat of the loyal forces from the barracks, according to a source in the city who requested anonymity.
Commander James Koang of the 4^th Division announced subsequently over state-run Bentiu Radio that the state was now under his control and that he was no longer taking orders from Juba.
He did not mention any association to former vice president Riek Machar, the most prominent political opponent of the government still at large. But according to a BBC reporter who spoke over the phone to the ex-VP today, Machar is claiming Koang’s allegiance.
The defected commander also declared that all ministers and commissioners were dismissed, and named no replacements. He said lower level officials could continue working.
According to a security source north of the state capital, the acting governor and deputy governor fled from the city.

The northern county of Pariang also witnessed clashes last night, Friday, from about 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. but remains under the control of the government.
At least 10 people were killed including five from the government side and five from the other side. Many people are also reported wounded or missing.

Troops loyal to South Sudanese president loose control over city of Bor

South Sudan’s army (SPLA) acknowledged that it is “not in control of Bor” after forces loyal to Gen. Peter Gatdet Yak overran military bases on Tuesday and took over the town Wednesday evening.  SPLA spokesperson Col. Philip Aguer said the national army is meeting to set the next move in light of the development amid growing international concern for the humanitarian situation in Jonglei’s state capital.
Earlier today, South Sudan army said that Gen. Gadet, who was a commander in charge of the SPLA’s 8th Division in Jonglei state, has defected from its ranks.
He reportedly broke off from the national army ranks on allegations that his tribe, the Nuer, have been targeted in the current tension.
Over the weekend clashes erupted in Juba between among units of the presidential guards from competing tribes of Dinka and Nuer. The fighting spread throughout the city which lead to the death of at least 500 people with hundreds more injured.

South Sudanese capital Juba is a battlefield

President Salva Kiir giving a speech on Monday, in which he asserted that his troops were in command.


Update: The United Nations received reports from local sources in South Sudan on Tuesday that between 400 and 500 people had been killed and up to 800 wounded in the latest violence, and the government said it had arrested 10 politicians in connection with a "foiled coup".
"Two hospitals have recorded between 400 and 500 dead and (up to) 800 wounded," a diplomat in New York said on condition of anonymity, citing an estimate United Nations peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous gave during a closed-door briefing for the 15-member body. Another diplomat confirmed Ladsous' remarks, adding that the United Nations was not in a position to verify the figures. (End of Update)
Fierce battles raged on Tuesday in South Sudan's capital Juba, witnesses said, as troops loyal to the president fought rival soldiers accused of staging a coup in the world's youngest nation. The continued gunfire, including the sporadic firing of heavy weapons, resumed in the early hours of Tuesday as terrified residents barricaded themselves in their homes or attempted to flee the city.
South Sudan's Under-Secretary for Health Makur Korion said on local radio that at least 26 people had so far been killed in the violence. At least 130 more are reported to have been wounded. "We can still hear sporadic shooting from various locations. The situation is very tense," Emma Jane Drew of the British aid agency Oxfam told AFP by telephone from Juba. "It's continued shooting. Shooting could be heard all through the night. We don't know who is fighting who." Drew said her team was unable to leave their compound because of the fighting, which began late on Sunday.