S. Sudan rebels claim capture of strategic town in Jonglei
March 27, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – As renewed fighting between the rival armies in South Sudan escalates in the three states of the oil-rich greater Upper Nile region, rebel forces on Friday claimed to have recaptured the strategic town of Ayod in Jonglei state, flushing out government troops after a three-day battle.
He claimed government troops and their allies suffered heavy losses in human lives and military hardware.
“This morning the SPLA [IO] forces in a joint operation with local defence forces or (LDF) managed to flash out the government forces in their position in Ayot, Jonglei state. The fighting had been on for the last three days since on Tuesday when government troops came out from their trenches to advance to our different locations,” Ngundeng stated in the release extended to Sudan Tribune.
“But our gallant forces managed to capture the whole town today,” he said.
Ngundeng further claimed that 154 government troops and their foreign allies were killed during the three-day fierce battle over the control of the town as well as captured two tanks in good condition and other munitions from the fleeing government soldiers.
He also cited as an advantage that the rebels knew the terrain of the area more than the government troops and their allies whom he said were flown in from Juba and different states and as a result got lost as they fled, falling into further ambushes.
The rebel spokesman further said rescue planes sent from Juba that attempted to pick government troops failed to land as they were successfully deterred by the SPLA-IO’s control on the ground.
Ayod is a strategic location north of Jonglei state’s capital Bor, and it has been used by the government as a defence location to protect the capital.
In different active front lines in northern and eastern Upper Nile state, Ngundeng said government troops failed to advance since last week as the rebels kept on repulsing all their multiple offensives which aimed to regain more territories.
“Our forces managed to repulse government forces on several attacks last week in Bentiu and Wedakona as well as Mangook near Guelguk in Upper Nile state,” he said.
Ngundeng further warned that the rebel forces were preparing to strike back and recapture the the oil-rich Unity state’s capital, Bentiu soon, accusing government troops of provoking the situation.
He vowed that SPLA-IO forces would soon control the whole region of Upper Nile despite what he said was continuous reinforcements of government troops and their allies from the different states of South Sudan.
“It’s just a matter of time. The whole area of greater Upper Nile would soon fall under SPLA in opposition. Despite the current government reinforcement from different places and its foreign troops, we would fight back much more directly and more frontally no matter what,” he said.
South Sudan’s military spokesperson, Colonel Philip Aguer, could not be reach for comment on the situation.
The escalation of fighting erupted soon after the collapse of the peace process in Addis Ababa on 6 March when the two factional leaders, president Salva Kiir and SPLM-IO chairman Riek Machar failed to agree on almost every outstanding issue.
The East African regional bloc of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) which mediates the process said the talks would resume in April under a new mechanism that would expand the mediation by including international bodies and countries beyond the African continent.
The 15-month old war erupted in mid-December 2013 when internal political debates on reforms within the leadership of the ruling Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement (SPLM) turned violent, targeting certain ethnicities.
Tens of thousands of people have since died and million of others displaced from their homes or threatened by hunger and diseases.
(ST)