Calm returns to Wau county after rebel attack: officials

June 1, 2015 (WAU) – Wau county in South Sudan’s Western Bahr el Ghazal state is now calm, a day after opposition forces took control of Bazia payam, its commissioner Elia Kamilio Dimo, said.

Dimo said the population in the county have resumed their normal cultivation activities.

“Our people are now in their farms carrying out their normal duties,” the Wau county commissioner told Sudan Tribune Monday.

“The rebels have been flashed out from the town a day after Sunday’s attack on our payam headquarters,” he further stressed.

Dimo said government forces now control of Bazia town after pushing out rebels.

On Sunday, government officials admitted that the opposition forces had captured Bazia, a strategic town south of the state capital.

At two people were reportedly killed during the attack, which also witnessed the massive destruction of properties in the area.

The state security advisor, Wol Dhel Theip said government had deployed heavy security personnel within Wau county to monitor and militarily deal with rebels.

The presence of rebel forces in Wau county forest had earlier been reported by state authorities since conflict erupted in the country. In January this year, an attack on a group of journalists traveling on Wau-Raga road was blamed on the armed opposition.

(ST)