South Sudan opposition fighters attack soldiers

Fighting between members of the South Sudanese army and opponents of the government resulted in a number of dead and wounded on the Sudan-South Sudan border between East Darfur and Northern Bahr El Ghazal.

The clash comes less than a week after the leader of the South Sudanese opposition forces, Riek Machar, was sworn-in as First Vice-President in Juba.

Combatants of his Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO) attacked South Sudanese soldiers in the area of Malwal last week. The opposition fighters moved from the vicinity of a camp south of Abu Jabra in East Darfur, to Malwal, where they launched the attack, a witness told Radio Dabanga yesterday. 

“The soldiers killed and wounded a number of them, and seized two of their vehicles. The combatants fled to East Darfur and transported their wounded to Abu Jabra for treatment.”

The Commissioner of Abu Jabra, El Dhaif Eisa Aliyu, confirmed the occurrence of the clash to Radio Dabanga.

“The attack of the opposition force was initiated by one of the Sheikhs in Bahr el Ghazal, named Abdel Bagi, and a man named Tibin Mahel, who is said to be a former army captain.”

Aliyu added that three fighters are being treated at the town’s hospital, and an investigation into the incident and the identities of the attackers is ongoing.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, another witness claimed that Mahel and his fighters arrived south of Abu Jabra two months ago, and that he has started training combatants in the area. 

Machar returns to post

On April 26, the rebel leader of the SPLM-IO, Riek Machar, returned to the South Sudanese capital of Juba to be sworn in as First Vice-President. Machar had delayed his return to the capital, the first time since the war erupted, for more than a week over security-related issues.

Opposition leader Riek Machar walks alongside President Salva Kiir in Juba on 26 April 2016 (BBC)

The armed conflict began in December 2013, initially as a fight between Dinka and Nuer soldiers of the presidential guards in barracks in Juba. The fighting in Juba quickly turned into a civil war between the two large ethnic groups, loyal to either President Kiir or Machar. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than two million have been displaced, while many have sought refuge in Sudan and neighbouring countries.

Long-lasting peace negotiations have resulted in Machar’s re-appointment as Vice-President, a condition of the peace agreement he signed with Kiir last August. President Salva Kiir also has committed his government to form a Transitional Government of National Unity, including Kiir’s loyalists and members of the SPLM-IO, in addition to the the SPLM Former Detainees, and other political parties.

Refugees in Darfur

Since late January 2016, there has been a surge in the number of South Sudanese fleeing into Sudan, the United Nations reported. Approximately 54,000 South Sudanese refugees have arrived in East and South Darfur and West Kordofan in just over two months. East Darfur has received at least 43,000 of these new arrivals.

Continuing conflict in South Sudan and heightened food insecurity in Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Warrap states are the main drivers of this recent influx. This is the first wave of South Sudanese refugees to arrive in large numbers in East Darfur.