Government forces attack rebel positions in S. Sudan’s Fashoda: SPLM-IO

June 8, 2018 (JUBA) – South Sudan army, the SPLA, carried out fresh attacks on the rebel positions in Fashoda state, said the SPLM-IO deputy spokesperson Col. Lam Paul Gabriel.

Gabriel said four rebel fighters have been killed in the surprise attack on the SPLA-IO headquarter in Ardeb on Thursday afternoon before to manage to repulse the attack.

“They came from Dafa (Kaka) and Thorguang a distance of more than 1 hour’s drive which shows how prepared they were,” he said.

The deputy spokesperson added that the SPLM-IO forces in the area known as “Agwelek” reorganized quickly and “repulsed the aggressors with a crushing defeat”.

The latest renewed fighting occurred ahead of top South Sudanese leaders will hold in a face-to-face meeting in Sudan within a week within the efforts carried out by the IGAD to end the armed conflict.

The armed opposition said the recent attacks on their positions violate the signed ceasefire but not only that as they reveal the true intentions of the government.

Therefore, the attacks are “a clear indication that the regime is against any chance of achieving peace in South Sudan”.

The re, however,esperson however called on the ceasefire monitoring body CTSAMM and the UN peacekeeping mission UNMISS to urgently investigate these violations and “bring those responsible to book,” as he said.

(ST)