S Sudan rebels attack key border town
Iran Press TV
Sun Jul 20, 2014 8:37PM GMT
South Sudanese rebels have launched an assault to recapture a key town near the Ethiopian border just days after mediators urged the warring leaders to resume peace talks.
On Sunday, the forces loyal to Riek Machar, South Sudan's former vice president, invaded their former headquarters, the town of Nasir, which is located some 30 kilometers from the border with Ethiopia.
Despite the rebels' claim, South Sudanese army spokesman Philip Aguer denied the fall of Nasir, saying the battle is 'still ongoing'.
'The rebels have been shelling Nasir since last night, and this morning at 6 a.m. they launched a ground attack. There is still fighting in Nasir but the rebels don't control Nasir,' Aguer said on the same day.
Just two day ago, the Ethiopian prime minister, who mediates South Sudan's peace talks, had warned both sides to resume negotiations.
Hailemariam Desalegn said on Friday that time was running out for a lasting deal in the violence-hit country.
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) condemned the raid as a clear violation of a truce agreement, reached in May, when President Salva Kiir and Machar met and recommitted to a January ceasefire.
'This attack represents the most serious resumption of hostilities' since the two sides met, the UNMISS said in a statement.
South Sudan plunged into violence in December 2013, when fighting erupted between troops loyal to Kiir and defectors led by Machar around the capital Juba.
The conflict soon turned into an all-out war between the army and defectors, with the violence taking on an ethnic dimension that pitted the president's Dinka tribe against Machar's Nuer ethnic group.
The conflict has left thousands of South Sudanese dead and forced around 1.5 million people to flee their homes in the world's youngest nation.
South Sudan gained independence in July 2011 after its people overwhelmingly voted in a referendum for a split from the North.
MSM/MAM/AS
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