JUBA (Reuters) – A rebel group in South Sudan said on Tuesday it was battling army forces near the capital of an oil producing state with the aim of bringing down the local government, but said it would not target oil fields there.
South Sudan became independent on July 9 after a referendum agreed under a 2005 peace deal with its former civil war foe Khartoum but has been struggling to end rebel and tribal violence, which has killed around 3,000 people this year.
On Saturday, the rebel South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA)said it had attacked Mayom town in Unity state which is home to most of the country’s oil fields and a pipeline running to Sudan’s Red Sea export terminal.
South Sudan produces around 300,000 barrels a day. Oil makes up 98 percent of state revenues in the underdeveloped African nation.
The group — one of several rebel groups — has called on the United Nations, which runs large aid operations in South Sudan, to leave Unity and neighbouring Warrap state to escape fighting. The U.N. says it plans to stay.
SSLA spokesman Gordon Buay said on Tuesday rebels had moved closer to the state capital Bentiu since Saturday and were now attacking army positions.
“At the moment fighting is going on in Nhialdew, only 25 km from Bentiu. There are around 5,000 SPLA (southern army) forces stationed there. We have around 2,400. If we capture Nhialdew then we will march on Bentiu,” he said.
Buey said the SSLA wanted to bring down the local government to end what he described as widespread corruption. But he said the rebel forces would not attack oil facilities in Unity state bordering Sudan.
“The oil fields will not be a target because we are not fighting to destroy our country. There is no point targeting our own resources,” he said.
Southern army spokesman Philip Aguer confirmed fighting took place in Nhialdew on Monday but said he was not aware of clashes on Tuesday.
“There were clashes with this militia group yesterday in Nhialdew. Four militiamen were killed and two policeman,” he said.
Mac Paul, deputy director of military intelligence in South Sudan’s army, said SSLA forces had entered the country by slipping over the border with Sudan on October 27 as the Sudanese army, or SAF, was providing training and equipment.
“(The SSLA) are under the responsibility of the SAF military intelligence,” he said.
The SSLA and Khartoum have both denied Sudan provides any support to the rebels.
But Buey said some senior members of the rebel group were currently in the northern capital. “The cadres of the SSLA are in Khartoum as refugees,” he said.
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Where do South Sudan rebel SSLA weapons come from?
South Sudan became independent in July but is already confronted by several rebel groups.
Three days ago, one of them, the South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA) carried out an attack which resulted in the death of at least 75 people.
In an exclusive interview, the SSLA’s leader Major General Bapiny Montyuil told the BBC’s James Copnall in Khartoum, Sudan, why they are still fighting.
Our reporter later explained to Peter Okwoche from the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme the threat the SSLA and other rebel groups represent to the government of South Sudan.
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GSDF dispatch to South Sudan gets go-ahead
The government announced Tuesday that several hundred Ground Self-Defense Force engineers will be dispatched to South Sudan as part of a United Nations peacekeeping operation.
The dispatch decision followed a rebel attack in the oil-rich Unity state on Saturday that claimed about 80 lives, including 60 rebels.
The government said it “comprehensively” considered various factors, including the unstable situation in South Sudan, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tsuyoshi Saito told a news conference Tuesday morning.
South Sudan officially became independent in July.
“It is true that the region and country has been through a long period of conflict . . . and various things could occur. But the Cabinet came to this decision today after looking into every situation,” Saito said.
The first 200 GSDF engineers will be dispatched in January, followed by about 300 more later.
“I think that the GSDF engineering troops should firmly contribute to the nation-building of South Sudan,” Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa said.
The government maintains five principles for sending Self-Defense Forces elements overseas as part of U.N. peacekeeping activities, including limiting the use of arms by personnel to “the minimum necessary military force” for self-defense.
Given the continuing conflict in South Sudan, members of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and the Liberal Democratic Party, the largest opposition force, have urged that this specific principle be relaxed so SDF units will have more flexibility in when they can use their weapons, for example to defend mission comrades from other countries.
But the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda plans to maintain the principles in the coming dispatch.
The United Nations officially asked for Japan’s participation after South Sudan became the 54th African country on July 9 and the government has been considering the dispatch since then.
In September and October, Noda sent two investigative teams to the African country to look into the situation.
Fighting in Sudan that started in 1983 lasted more than two decades and is believed to have resulted in about 2 million deaths.