South Sudan denies Ayod captured by rebels
March 28, 2015 (BOR) – South Sudan’s Jonglei state government has denied rebel claims that they captured the strategic town of Ayod on Friday, saying government troops were still in full control of the town and its surroundings.
He said the SPLA-IO forces took full control of the town after three days of fierce battles since Tuesday.
However, Jonglei state’s information minister, Boris Jodi Jonglei denied the claims in a press statement seen by Sudan Tribune on Friday, explaining that the attack by the rebel forces was repulsed in a two-hour battle on Tuesday.
“There was an attack on 24 in Ayod, it started earlier in the morning at around 5am and by 7am they were pushed out,” Jonglei explained.
“The attack took place when the commissioner was on the ground. He reported that the situation of the civilians in Ayod was ok, no casualties on the side of the civilians,” he said.
He said more than 3,000 civilians, majority of them women and children, living in Ayod town under SPLA protection were reported safe following the Tuesday attack.
The state’s spokesperson could not say whether another battle took place on Friday over the control of the town.
He also declined to release information regarding the casualties on either of the two forces, saying it was not under his jurisdiction to disclose military casualties.
The minister further asserted that government soldiers were celebrating their victory over the rebels after the fight in Ayod.
“Our soldiers are in very high moral, because they defeated the enemy. The rebels were pushed out to the canal and they did not come back again. They casualties they got were so many,” he said.
The state minister whose home area of greater Pibor is being administered independently from the rest of Jonglei state per last year’s agreement with former rebel leader David Yau Yau, lauded the role played by the army in defending the country.
A number of wounded SPLA soldiers from the Ayod battles were flown to the state capital, Bor, for treatment but access by the media to them was highly restricted.
The recent upsurge of violence erupted after the collapse of the peace process in Addis Ababa on 6 March when president Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar could not agree on almost all the outstanding issues in order to end the 15-month old war.
The East African regional bloc of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) which mediates the peace talks between the warring parties said the negotiations will resume in April to end the conflict.
No date is fixed for the resumption of the talks.
(ST)