*Firefights in Juba risk shattering fragile peace/ Oxford Analytica 11.07.16*
The durability of South Sudan's peace agreement will face its greatest test yet in the coming days Fighting between rival factions of South Sudanese soldiers in Juba from Friday through Sunday killed at least 300 people, including 33 civilians and two Chinese peacekeepers. The clashes between forces loyal to President Silva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar were the most violent incident in the country since the national unity government took office in April after a two-year civil war. Reports indicate that some of the attacks were directed against the area where Machar and his military are based. The weekend's violence followed an incident on July 7 that killed five soldiers. Machar's spokesman stated the South Sudan was "back to war", but a government spokesperson denied that the civil war had formally restarted. Kenya Airlines and Rwandair have suspended flights to Juba, while the US embassy has evacuated non-emergency staff. Our judgement Even if Kiir and Machar appeal for calm, they may lack control over combatants. International actors who worked to end the civil war, including the United States, United Kingdom and the UN, will seek to defuse tensions but their role in limiting further violence will be limited. -- To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/southsudankob View this message at https://groups.google.com/d/msg/southsudankob/topic-id/message-id For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14opexQXoSjJfV14C3VQTRYJPJ17ppwaJBu%3D-17Jrdk1igw%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
