SPLM-IO says Kiir's forces bombed vice president's compound in Juba JUBA (14 Jul.)
One of the two main partners in South Sudan's Transitional Government of National Unity says that government forces attacked the compound of their own vice president over the weekend. The violence in Juba has led to a severe breakdown in public services and government functions in Juba. “President Salva Kiir’s forces bombed Dr. Riek Machar’s house at Jebel using helicopter gunships. Perhaps they thought he was inside the building. The aim was clearly to harm him,” said Riek Machar’s spokesperson James Gatdet Dak, as quoted by Sudan Tribune. Dak however said Machar was already outside his residence when helicopter gunships attacked his house on Sunday, the day President Kiir’s forces attacked their base in the morning hours. Kiir's forces also attacked Machar's house in December 2013 at the start of the civil war, according to a report by the African Union Commission of Inquiry. Since the fighting, SPLM-IO have not disclosed publicly the whereabouts of Machar, but Reuters reported yesterday that the vice president withdrew from Juba with some of his troops. "We had to move away from our base (in Juba) to avoid further confrontation," Machar's spokesman James Gatdet Dak in Nairobi told Reuters, saying he was in contact with Machar's forces. "He is around the capital. I cannot say the location." Separately, an Al Jazeera reporter yesterday said that the presidential spokesman said that they don't know where Machar is and that he has not spoken with Kiir since Monday. -- 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/CAJb14ooSj7_-RdWJdd2ou9wL0xU9N-_qAO0mkBzQNt6%2BrrEwYw%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
