South Sudan awaits another ‘north-backed’ rebel attack
Tuesday, 01 November 2011
By AFP: JUBA
South Sudan’s military on Tuesday warned of an impending attack by 500 to 700 rebels moving down from Sudan’s White Nile state in what it termed an escalating “proxy war” by the north.
The military accuses Khartoum of training and transporting the rebels, who South Sudan expects will follow-up a Saturday attack on oil-rich Unity state in which it said 57 people were killed and 60 wounded. It anticipates that the rebels will cross to South Sudan’s Upper Nile state for a planned attack.
Military spokesman Philip Aguer said about 500 to 700 rebel troops would arrive “within two or three days” and attack within a week, according to military intelligence.
General Mac Paul, deputy director of military intelligence, said “maybe in two (days) or 24 hours to come we are going to have problems”, in Upper Nile border state.
South Sudan’s army has boosted troops in Upper Nile.
Paul said: “As we are talking now, another group of (rebels) left last night from Kaunyara (in South Kordofan, the war-torn border state) with the intention of coming to attack the areas of Kaka” and areas west down to Tonga.
“That group is on its way now coming to attack us. They are crossing the border now and we are following them”, Paul added, saying the group had travelled down from Abu-Jibeiah in White Nile.
South Sudan says Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) are training the rebels from southern states – including some 400 rebels thought to be behind the attack on Mayom town – then driving them over the border in military trucks.
“We have been following the movement of these troops since September” from Khartoum, Paul said.
“These people are coming from the areas of Southern Kordofan and they are being supported by SAF”, in training and then crossing the border, he added.
Last Saturday, officials said around 80 people had been killed in Mayon county, including about 60 militiamen.
Unity Information Minister Gideon Gatpan Thoar said rebels, most of them fighting under the banner of the South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA), attacked Mayom town and that the majority of the civilian casualties were residents gunned down while “running for shelter.”
South Sudan has repeatedly accused Khartoum of wanting to destabilize the new country, which gained independence in July.
Sudan denies this and has countered with accusations that South Sudan is funding rebels on its new border states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan, where troops fought alongside the SPLA as part of a 22-year civil war.
“It’s is a proxy war. Behind it is Sudan Armed Forces. They wanted these forces to capture Kaka and then SAF may move … as they claim Kaka as part of the north”, military spokesman Aguer said.
South Sudan seceded with 75 percent of the oil, and the two countries have yet to demarcate borders in oil-rich areas and decide how to split revenues.
“Oil fields are part of the agenda on the other side of the river”, Aguer said, claiming that forces loyal to renegade SPLA General George Athor were gathering at Buth, a town on Upper Nile’s border with Sudan.
“Maybe they are waiting for the rains to stop”, after a botched attack in June on oil-fields and Kaka, he said.
Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said the SPLA had secured the oil-fields and did not expect a major attack.
“The Sudan government that is sending militia is also interested in the oil” for economic survival and would not destroy fields, he said.
Instability is seen as the fledgling nation’s major stumbling block, despite numerous militias accepting an amnesty offer in August, by President Salva Kiir.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/11/01/174889.html
Rebel attacks in newly established state of South Sudan kill 75
Saturday, 29 October 2011
By AFP
JUBA
Seventy-five people were killed on Saturday when government forces in the oil-rich South Sudanese Unity state repelled an attack by rebel militia, in which 15 civilians also died, the state’s information minister said.
“There was a militia attack at 5 or 6 o’clock in the morning (02:00-03:00 GMT) in Mayom county,” said Gideon Gatpan Thoar, adding that another 18 were wounded.
Thoar said rebels, most of them fighting under the banner of the South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA), attacked Mayom town and that the majority of the civilian casualties were residents gunned down while “running for shelter.”
“We are counting the bodies now but over 60 militias were killed and many more wounded,” said Thoar, adding that 15 civilians were killed in the attack.
Among the dead was the notorious rebel fighter Colonel Ruadheal Gatwech, he said, adding that SPLA government forces also captured one soldier in Mayom town and three more in the east of the county.
“The situation is under control by the SPLA. The rebels are still being chased away,” Thoar told AFP seven hours after the attack.
Thoar said the last serious attack in Unity was early October, when the rebel group was suspected to have laid an anti-tank mine that killed 20 people in a passenger bus, and before that another mine incident in September.
On Friday, the SSLA gave the U.N. and aid agencies one week to evacuate Unity state, promising to “violently resist the regime of Governor Deng Taban,” who the rebels accuse of human rights abuses.
“SSLA is calling upon all NGOs and U.N. personnel to leave Unity State within a week for their own safety,” the group said in a statement from their Mayom headquarters.
The rebels claimed Governor Taban ordered SPLA troops to confiscate 600 cattle from SSLA Commanders family members, who were allegedly detained in unknown locations and beaten.
Cattle are vital for a dowry under local tribal customs of the Nuer people.
Thoar denied the groups claims. “All these allegations have no basis at all.”
“They do with the intention of interrupting the peaceful program of disarmament and to recapture the civilian guns.”
Thoar said the voluntary disarmament program had collected 1000 guns, over half of which came from Mayom county.
The rebel group is made up of forces formerly loyal to Peter Gadet, who accepted South Sudan President Salva Kiir’s offer of amnesty in August, a month after the country gained independence from the north after a 22-year civil war.
While Gadet was reintegrated into the SPLA, an unknown number of men rejected the ceasefire, accusing their former leader and renegade SPLA general of accepting government bribes.
The U.N. Mine Action Coordination Centre has said it will ramp up efforts in Unity state due to the increase in incidents and the approach of the dry season, when rebel groups are more active.
Insecurity is one of the fledgling nation’s biggest challenges.
Rebel militias in Unity state threaten not only the country’s economic lifeblood but also aid access and the livelihood of many civilians in the largely pastoral state plagued by fear of mines and violence.
Dozens of aid agencies like Care International, The International Rescue Committee, Medecin Sans Frontieres, the International Committee of the Red Cross are working in Unity state alongside a large U.N. presence.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/10/29/174371.html
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