Date: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 00:34:42 +0100
South Sudan rebels, government claim oil town as talks delayed
By Carl Odera
JUBA Thu Mar 21, 2014 1:09pm EDT
(Reuters) - South Sudanese rebels and government troops both said they
controlled the capital of an oil-producing state on Thursday after days of
fighting, as another attempt to resume peace talks in neighboring Ethiopia
fell through.
Presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said the town of Malakal, on the
White Nile near oilfields in the north of the country, had been shattered by
fighting but that its recapture marked a strategically important win.
A rebel spokesman said fighters allied to former vice president Riek Machar
had made a tactical retreat from Malakal on Wednesday evening as the town
came under heavy bombardment. But he said the rebels waged a new offensive
on Thursday.
"We have retaken Malakal this afternoon after launching a counter-attack,"
Lul Ruai Koang, a rebel spokesman on military affairs, told Reuters in
Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.
It was not immediately possible to verify either side's account.
The latest clashes highlighted the lack of headway made in peace talks
between the government and rebels after a ceasefire deal in January
collapsed.
Negotiations were scheduled to resume on Thursday but the Juba government
said it had not sent its delegation to Ethiopia because of a dispute over
who should be represented.
"Our negotiation team has not yet gone to Addis Ababa. Only the government
and the rebels should sit at the negotiation table," Ateny told reporters in
South Sudan's capital.
SANCTIONS THREAT
Juba objects to seven ex-political detainees freed forming a third party at
the talks. They were released in January but the government says they could
still face criminal charges for alleged involvement in a coup plot.
"They are not fighting the government, they have no forces, they are still
suspects," Ateny said.
The failure of peace talks so far has frustrated Western backers of the
world's youngest country who are pressing both sides to lay down their
weapons.
The United States, Britain, European Union and Norway on Wednesday
threatened targeted sanctions against the warring sides in South Sudan,
which declared independence from Sudan in 2011 but has been plagued by
disorder since.
Rebel spokesman Koang said Ugandan air and ground forces had bombed
anti-government forces in Malakal on Wednesday, forcing their
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withdrawalhttp://savingsslider-a.akamaihd.net/items/it/img/arrow-10x10.png
to avoid more civilian casualties.
The presence of Ugandan troops in South Sudan is a major sticking point
stalling the negotiations.
Ugandan forces entered South Sudan on Juba's invitation to help protect the
airport, presidential palace and other installations in the capital, but
have been accused by rebels of fighting alongside government soldiers in
various flashpoints.
Malakal is a gateway to Upper Nile state's oil fields, where production his
week held steady at about 160,000 barrels a day, an official told Reuters on
Wednesday. Oil facilities in neighboring Unity state were shut soon after
the fighting erupted in mid-December.
Thousands have been killed and almost a million uprooted from their homes in
the conflict, which has often pitted factions from President Salva Kiir's
Dinka community and the Nuer ethnic group of Machar against each other.
(Additional reporting by Aaron Maasho in Addis Ababa; Writing by
<http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=richardlough&>
Richard Lough; Editing by
<http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=andrew.roche&>
Andrew Roche)
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