---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Tue, May 21, 2013 at 12:11 PM Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] More reports on Boma To: Group <[email protected]>
1. South Sudan army says retakes town from rebels in east By Hereward Holland JUBA | Mon May 20, 2013 8:31am EDT (Reuters) - South Sudan's army has retaken an eastern town captured by rebels two weeks ago, a military spokesman said on Monday, in a conflict that has uprooted thousands of people and hampered government plans to explore for oil. Army spokesman Philip Aguer said four soldiers and a dozen rebels were killed during a brief battle on Sunday to recapture Boma town in Jonglei state, where the government wants to search for oil with the help of France's Total. "The SPLA (army) restored order and control of Boma yesterday. I was there myself," Aguer told Reuters. But Peter Konyi Kubrin, a spokesman for rebels also known as the South Sudan Democratic Army, denied they had lost the town. Since winning independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan has been struggling to impose its authority across vast swathes of territory awash with weapons after decades of civil war with Khartoum ended in a peace deal in 2005. Rebel leader David Yau Yau, a former theology student, raised a rebellion in 2010 after failing to win a seat in local elections. He accepted an amnesty in 2011 only to take up arms again a year later to end what his group's manifesto calls corruption and the unfair dominance of the ruling party. The United States and several European powers urged the government to find a political solution to the conflict. "We stress that the worsening situation in Jonglei state requires a political and not a military solution," said a statement by several Western embassies in the capital Juba. The embassies said they were alarmed by the recent looting of private homes and compounds of foreign aid groups in Pibor, another town in Jonglei, which the army has blamed on state wildlife officers who defected to the rebels. Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said their Pibor hospital had been systematically destroyed recently, depriving around 100,000 people of access to healthcare. Over 1,600 people have been killed in violence in Jonglei, largely though inter-ethnic cattle raiding communities, since South Sudan gained independence, theUnited Nations says. (Editing by Ulf Laessing and Mike Collett-White) END1 2. 51 die in 2 South Sudan clashes; military re-takes town overrun by fighters By Associated Press, Published: May 20 JUBA, South Sudan — Twenty-four people died in a battle between South Sudan’s military and rebel fighters the government believes to be supported by neighboring Sudan, while a tribe-on-tribe cattle-raiding attack elsewhere in the country killed 27 people, officials said Monday. A battle in Jonglei state on Sunday killed 20 rebel fighters and four government troops, said Col. Philip Aguer. Aguer said the army recaptured the town of Boma, near the border with Ethiopia, from rebels led by David Yau Yau who took over the town earlier this month. South Sudan’s military “restored law and order to Boma and chased away the rebels to the hills outside town,” he said. Aguer said government forces found food manufactured in the East African country of Eritrea on the ground, but he said that officials don’t have evidence that Eritrea is helping the rebels. South Sudan accuses Sudan of supporting Yau Yau’s rebellion in order to block South Sudan’s plans to build an oil pipeline through Jonglei state and Ethiopia. South Sudan must currently export its oil through pipelines owned by Sudan. It plans to build a new pipeline would reduce its dependence upon Sudan. Sudan has repeatedly denied having any ties to Yau Yau’s rebels and has counter-accused the south of supporting rebels in Sudan’s South Kordofan and Blue Nile states. A Swiss based research group, Small Arms Survey, said in a recent report that Sudan supplied weapons and ammunition to the rebels. In violence elsewhere, cattle raiders suspected to be from Jonglei state killed 27 people in Upper Nile state on Saturday morning, local officials said. Nasir County Commissioner Dak Tap said the raiders attacked the village at night when people were sleeping. “The attackers killed 23 people on the spot and stole more than 2,000 cattle. In the morning youth in the affected village pursued the raiders and in the ensuing exchange of fire four more people, including three rebels, were killed,” said Tap. Jonglei state, South Sudan’s largest state, has a long history of inter-communal violence mostly related to cattle-raiding. Since South Sudan declared independence from Sudan in 2011, the cattle raids have become more frequent and deadly. Instability in Jonglei state and South Sudan as a whole is due in part to easy access to weapons. A government disarmament campaign launched in Jonglei last year ended up boosting insecurity and was accompanied by abuses against civilians, according to a United Nations report released last year. http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/24-killed-in-rebel-vs-army-battle-in-south-sudan-military-re-takes-town-overrun-by-fighters/2013/05/20/023c1240-c13d-11e2-9aa6-fc21ae807a8a_story.html END2 3. S. Sudan army says it recaptured town from Yau Yau rebels May 19, 2013 (BOR) – The South Sudanese army (SPLA) says it has retaken control of an area previously held by rebels in the remote Boma town in Jonglei state. Army spokesperson Phillip Aguer told Sudan Tribune on Saturday that the SPLA had restored law and order in the town, which had been under the control of David Yau Yau-led forces for days. “The SPLA has restored law and order in Boma town. The SPLA entered Boma this morning and we have now taken control over it”, said Aguer by phone. He said four army soldiers were killed and another 12 wounded in the ensuing battle to reclaim the rebel-held territory. He added that 20 rebel fighters had also been killed in the clash. “We captured lots of weapons and the army is now in the process of identifying them to find out their sources and the countries of manufacture,” he revealed. A number of food items and alcohol allegedly imported from neighbouring Eritrea were also reportedly recovered from the rebels. However, it remains unclear as to how the rebels obtained the goods, raising questions about a possible link between South Sudanese armed groups and elements from the neighbouring country. A rebel group fighting in Jonglei, the country’s most populous state, claimed on Tuesday to have laid siege on Pibor town, highlighting the level of their activities in the area in recent days. Meanwhile, the rebel’s official spokesperson, Colonel Peter Konyi Kubrin, issued an evacuation warning to civilian populations in the state capital Bor, claiming they are sending forces to attack the city. (ST) http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article46634 END3 ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan, South Sudan Advisor [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +211 919 695 362 (South Sudan mobile) +27 79 832 8834 (South Africa mobile) +44 750 304 1790 (UK/international) +88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone) PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation -- -- The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudan-john-ashworth" group. 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