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Sudan Tribune

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South Sudan army denies using Egyptian airforce in rebel areas

February 4, 2017 (JUBA) – The South Sudanese army (SPLA) denied on Saturday reports the Egyptian force was used to bomb rebel-controlled areas north of Upper Nile state.

SPLA soldiers in Malakal, capital of the battleground oil-state of Upper Nile on 15 May 2014 (Photo AFP/Ivan Lieman)
SPLA soldiers in Malakal, capital of the battleground oil-state of Upper Nile on 15 May 2014 (Photo AFP/Ivan Lieman)
The acting SPLA spokesman, Col. Santo Dominic dismissed the report as “false”, adding that South Sudan government had not received any form of military support from Egypt.

“There are no Sudanese rebels in the republic of South Sudan and it is not true the Egyptian air force bombed places in South Sudan. It is a propaganda”, said Dominic.

The SPLA official’s remarks was in reaction to the armed opposition spokesperson’s claims that government forces attacked them using Sudanese and Egyptian air forces.

“At around 8:00am yesterday Thursday February 02, 2017 the brutal and ruthless Juba regime allowed and sneaked into South Sudan from Angathna base in Blue Nile a 70-vehicle convoy of four battalions of heavily armed Sudanese rebels of the SPLM-North (SPLM-N) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) to attack and retake Mustakbal, Wadekona and Detang which the gallant SPLA-IO forces had taken full control of after defeating a combination of Juba regime solders and other Sudanese rebels late last month,” said the armed opposition spokesman, William Gatjiath Deng.

Clashes between the rival forces, he further claimed, left so many dead bodies and 43 PKMs and 300 AK-47s were captured.

“This devastating and catastrophic defeat of the Juba regime soldiers and mercenaries by the gallant SPLA-IO forces forced the remaining JEM and SPLM-N elements to Makal (Malakal), Renk and Palouch. At around 8:00am this morning Friday February 03, 2017, the Juba regime Sudanese mercenaries once again attacked SPLA-IO positions at Detang,” said Deng in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune.

It added, “The gallant SPLA-IO forces repulsed the attack and pursued the Juba regime aggression to Lelo”.

According to the armed opposition spokesperson, the Egyptian air force dropped more than nine bombs and explosions in rebel-held territories around Kaka on Friday.

“In the fighting at Ataam, the gallant SPLA-IO of the Special Division captured one Juba regime soldier alive and he is being held as Prisoner of War at the SPLA-IO Special division Ataam headquarters,” further stated the armed opposition spokesperson.

“In that of Mayom road, the gallant SPLA-IO forces captured eight (8) regime soldiers alive and four (4) Juba regime military vehicles were destroyed. The continuous involvement of the Sudanese rebels and the escalation of the Egyptian participation in the ongoing war in South Sudan are clear indications to the people of South Sudan, the African Union (AU), the United Nations (UN) and the international community that the Juba regime is provoking the region and tilting South Sudan for a regional war”, he added.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and nearly two million displaced in the country’s worst ever outbreak of violence since it got independence from Sudan.

(ST)

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