JUBA, South Sudan
At least 20 soldiers were killed in fresh clashes between rival factions of South Sudan’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-in opposition (SPLM/A-IO), an official confirmed on Tuesday.
Lam Paul
Gabriel, spokesperson for the SPLA-IO under First Vice President Riek Machar
said three senior military officers were among those killed in the clashes that
occurred at Morjala and Gazal area of Upper Nile state with another SPLA-IO
splinter group.
The fresh
clashes on Monday came after the breakaway SPLM/A-IO faction led by Machar’s
former chief of staff Simon Gatwech Dual on August 4 clashed at Magenis with
soldiers loyal to the latter, leaving 34 soldiers killed.
Dual’s
faction had accused Machar of nepotism and weakening its hand in the
transitional unity government formed in February last year.
“The
breakaway faction (Kit-Guang) are working to widen their area of operation,
they want to expand their territory but we are fighting in self-defense,”
Gabriel said.
South
Sudan descended into conflict in December 2013, following a political dispute
between Kiir and his deputy Machar that caused a split within the army, leaving
soldiers loyal to the respective leader to fight.
A peace
deal signed in 2015 collapsed in the aftermath of renewed violence in July
2016.
The
revitalized peace deal signed in 2018 under pressure from the international
community remains the only hope to durable peace in the youngest nation,
following years of violence that killed tens of thousands and displaced
millions both internally and externally.
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