South Sudan army claims it has expelled rebels from Unity’s Mayom county ArticleComments (10). Email PrintSave --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Ngor Arol Garang October 30, 2011 (JUBA) - The South Sudanese army on Sunday said it had expelled rebel groups from Mayom county in Unity state after they launched a heavy attack on Saturday which killed 60 rebels and at least 15 civilians. Phillip Aguer Panyang, spokesman of the South Sudan’s army - the SPLA - said Saturday that on state television that the rebels had been "repulsed". The SPLA has not given figures for their own casualties but the rebels claim to have killed 700. “Mayom as a county is now under full control of the SPLA," he said, accusing the north Sudanese government of “sponsoring” rebel activities and operations against the Juba based central government. South Sudan separated from the rest of Sudan in July as part of a 2005 peace deal. Despite the agreement South Sudan has continued to allege that Khartoum supports insurgencies in the country. The army spokesman on Sunday denied claims alleging that rebels were advancing towards either Bentiu, capital of Unity State or Kuacjok, capital of Warrap State. “They are not in Mayom and are not advancing towards any place. They have been expelled and some of some have already been captured”, Aguer said. A statement from the rebels claims that forces under the command of Major General Mathew Pul Jang and Major General Kolchara Nyang captured Mayom town at dawn on 29 October. The SSLA say they will now advance towards Bentiu, the state capital, warning civilians and international organisations including the UN to consider evacuating the area. The rebels claim that four hours after taking Mayom they captured Tomor town, capturing 23 SPLA soldiers, as well as some weapons, and destroying five T-55 tanks. But the SPLA spokesman Aguer denied that any weapons had been captured by the rebels or that any soldiers had been seized, describing the rebels claims as “concocted propaganda coined up to please their masters in Khartoum." Instead it was "the SPLA forces which have actually captured some of them as they tried to run. They are now on the run as our forces are following them”, Aguer said. Aguer said that that security situation in Mayom is already returning to normal because an increased number of SPLA forces had been deployed to provide adequate security. (ST) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob?hl=en.
