Deadly fighting between rivals in SSudan VP Machar’s party

Juba (AFP), Aug 7 – Deadly fighting erupted on Saturday between rival factions of South Sudanese Vice President Riek Machar’s SPLA-IO after his foes in the party said they had ousted him as leader, the latest twist in the nation’s troubled decade of independence.

Tensions boiled over this week in the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In Opposition (SPLA-IO) after Machar’s rivals declared they had deposed him as party chairman and commander-in-chief — a move his allies dismissed as a “failed coup”.

The fighting could put further pressure on an already fragile peace deal between Machar and his old foe, President Salva Kiir, that ended five years of brutal civil war in the world’s youngest country and led to an uneasy coalition government.

The two factions traded blame over who was responsible for Saturday’s violence which killed at least 32 people, with each side saying its foe had instigated the clashes in White Nile State bordering Sudan.

Armed forces led by Simon Gatwech Dual — the general named as interim SPLA-IO chief — launched an attack early Saturday on Machar’s men, who “repulsed the aggressors”, the vice president’s military spokesman Colonel Lam Paul Gabriel said.

Machar’s forces killed two major generals and over 27 “enemy” soldiers, and lost three of their own men, he added in a statement.

But Gatwech’s military spokesman Brigadier General William Gatjiath Deng issued a rebuttal, saying their forces responded to an unprovoked assault and “completely annihilated” the attackers, killing 28 of Machar’s men and losing four of their own “freedom fighters”.

Both sides claimed victory — their accounts could not be immediately confirmed.

Gabriel also claimed that Gatwech and another lieutenant general had been evacuated across the border to Sudan and called on their loyalists to return to Machar’s fold.

“The SPLA-IO leadership request the Sudan government to maintain its neutrality by keeping the two in Sudan and not to allow them come back and cause more insecurity in the area,” he said in a statement published in English.

– ‘Peace spoilers’ –

The political disunity comes as South Sudan faces chronic instability, economic chaos and its worst hunger crisis since independence, with tens of thousands of people enduring famine-like conditions.

Adding to its woes, the UN said on Friday that 90,000 people had been affected by flooding in Jonglei State after torrential rains.

Leaders of the military wing of Machar’s SPLA-IO announced on Wednesday they had deposed the rebel-turned-politician for failing to represent their interests.

They said Machar had “completely failed” to show leadership and greatly weakened the party’s position in the post-war coalition government formed between the warring sides in early 2020.

Machar’s allies on Friday dismissed his ouster as a “failed coup”, insisting he was still in full control of the party. Machar himself accused “peace spoilers” of engineering his removal.

Civil society activists urged both sides to come to the negotiating table before the situation worsens.

“The conflicting parties need to cease military confrontations now and resolve their grievances in non-violent manner,” said Edmund Yakani, from the Juba-based Community Empowerment for Progress Organization.

“The citizens of South Sudan are tired of the armed violence.”

Already, there are calls for a peaceful public uprising to topple the current regime and end the chronic political and economic crisis.

At least two prominent activists were arrested Monday after they signed a declaration by a coalition of civil society groups calling for the resignation of Kiir and Machar.

Machar, a wily leader who survived years of bush warfare, attempts on his life and stretches in exile, served as vice president alongside Kiir in the first government after it declared independence from Sudan in July 2011.

But the pair fell out and Machar was sacked two years later. Troops loyal to each man turned their guns on each other, and South Sudan descended into five years of civil war.

In 2018, a fresh truce paused the fighting that had left nearly 400,000 South Sudanese dead.

Under that arrangement, Machar entered another unity government as deputy to Kiir in February 2020.

But distrust lingered and as the peace process drifted, Machar faced growing opposition within his own ranks, with top cadres complaining they had lost out under the power-sharing arrangement with the ruling party.

Machar has said the recent squabbles are out to derail the formation of a unified armed forces command, a key component of the peace deal.