Fighting flares up in South Sudan after rains recede
Thu Dec 4, 2014 6:33pm GMT
By Carl Odera
JUBA Dec 4 (Reuters) - Government troops and South Sudanese rebels have been
fighting for more than a week in a remote northern region of the country, a
United Nations official said on Thursday, in the worst clashes since the
rainy season receded in recent weeks.
The conflict in South Sudan, which declared independence from Sudan in 2011,
has killed more than 10,000 people, driven 1 million from their homes and
led to a severe food shortage.
Western diplomats, frustrated by the lack of progress in peace talks between
the South Sudanese government and rebels, had feared the end of rains would
herald more fighting.
The European Union and the United States, keen to prevent the world's newest
state sliding into chaos, have already imposed sanctions on both sides for
frequent breaches of a ceasefire. The initial pact was signed in January.
Joe Contreras, spokesman for the U.N. mission in South Sudan, said the
United Nations had received reports of continuous clashes in Fangak county
in Jonglei State.
"The fighting has been going on for over a week there," he said.
A monitoring team from the regional African IGAD bloc, put in place to
monitor ceasefire violations, briefed the United Nations about clashes in
Fangak on Tuesday. He called it the most sustained fighting in a single
location since May.
The warring factions renewed the ceasefire pact in May and signed another
deal to halt fighting early in November but each time they have quickly
collapsed.
Talks to reach a comprehensive agreement are continuing in Ethiopia but with
little sign of progress.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said in Germany on Tuesday
that there was a lack of political commitment from both sides.
(Additional reporting by Andreas Rinke in Germany,; Writing by Drazen
Jorgic, Editing by Angus MacSwan)