Juba accuses Khartoum of bombing towns inside South Sudan
April 08, 2015 (JUBA/WAU) – South Sudanese officials have accused their northern neighbouring country, Sudan, of carrying out air raids against civilian settlements inside the country on Wednesday.
Commissioner of Raja county in Western Bahr el Ghazal state, James Benjamin Maroma, said Sudanese warplanes on Wednesday attacked the town near the Sudanese border, when they dropped 20 bombs in the headquarters of Deleba town.
“The air raid occurred around 1.30 [in the] afternoon (local time) where an Antonov (military aircraft) claimed to be belonging to Sudan attacked the area targeting the town’s headquarters,” he said.
The South Sudanese official condemned the attack and called for investigation into the incident, saying it was not the first time for the Sudanese government to attack the state.
In Juba, military spokesman for South Sudanese army, Colonel Philip Aguer, confirmed to Sudan Tribune the Raja bombings on Wednesday, adding that another air raid also occurred on the same day in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state.
In Northern Bahr el Ghazal, according to Aguer, the bombs were dropped in a civilian settlement inside South Sudanese territory at Mayom Angok village, one of administrative units in Ayat area.
He said the incident caused panic among the civilians, some of whom fled to the nearby bush for cover and safety.
The bombs that fell in Mayom Angok village reportedly destroyed several residential houses and a school in the area, but no human casualties were reported.
South Sudan for the past ten years has been lacking air defence system or satellite which would detect and identify planes that fly over its airspace and officials only use their assumptions and directions from which such planes take.
But Colonel Aguer said he was sure the bombings were carried out by Sudanese planes given the direction they came from and the type of the warplanes.
“Of course there is no other country in the surrounding area which has warplanes. They were seen coming and returning from the direction of Sudan,” said the army spokesperson.
“This is a violation of the international law and it is unacceptable,” he added.
Authorities in South Sudan have been reporting incidents of bombing allegedly by the Sudanese army since session of South Sudan from the rest of Sudan in July 2011 including December 2014 air raids in Dem Jallab which left 2 people dead.
Khartoum had been denying bombing the South Sudanese territory, saying it was only pursuing its rebel groups at the common borders.
Recently several Sudanese officials repeated accusations that Juba continues to harbour and support rebel groups in the bordering states.
If confirmed, the attacks would have come a day after president Salva Kiir on Tuesday said his country’s differences with Sudan were “minor” and “temporary” which could be resolved amicably.
(ST)