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South Sudan rebels fire on US military planes, say government officials South Sudan rebels fire on US military planes, say government officials
(about 3 hours later)
Two US military aircraft were attacked by South Sudanese rebels, leaving three US military service members injured, as African diplomats tried to seek an agreement between rival groups. US aircraft came under fire on Saturday on a mission to evacuate Americans from spiralling conflict in South Sudan and four US military service members were wounded.
The three were injured when gunfire hit their aircraft over South Sudan, the US military confirmed on Saturday. The aircraft was on mission to evacuate American citizens, the military said. Nearly a week of fighting threatens to drag the world's newest country into an ethnic civil war just two years after it won independence from Sudan with strong support from successive US administrations.
The aircraft were heading to Bor, the capital of the state of Jonglei and scene of some of the nation's worst violence over the last week. One US service member was reported to be in critical condition. The US aircraft came under fire while approaching the evacuation site, the military's Africa Command said in a statement.
Officials said after the aircraft took incoming fire, they turned around and headed to Kampala, Uganda. From there the service members were flown on to Nairobi, Kenya for medical treatment. "The aircraft diverted to an airfield outside the country and aborted the mission," it said.
South Sudan's military spokesman, Colonel Philip Aguer, said that government troops are not in control of Bor, so the attack on the US aircraft has to be blamed on renegade fighters, he said. Hundreds of people have been killed in the fighting that pits loyalists of President Salva Kiir, of the Dinka ethnic group, against those of his former vice president Riek Machar, a Nuer who was sacked in July and is accused by the government of trying to seize power.
South Sudan's President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, said this week that an attempted coup triggered the violence now pulsing through South Sudan. He blamed the former vice-president, Riek Machar, an ethnic Nuer. But officials have since said a fight between Dinka and Nuer members of the presidential guard triggered the initial violence late on Sunday night. Machar's removal from the vice presidency earlier this year had stoked ethnic tensions. Fighting that spread from the capital, Juba, has now reached vital oilfields and the government said a senior army commander had defected to Machar in the oil-producing Unity State.
On Friday, African mediators met Kiir for what they called productive talks. His government said on its Twitter feed it was willing to hold talks with any rebel group. After meetings with African mediators on Friday, Kiir's government said on its Twitter feed that it was willing to hold talks with any rebel group. The United States is also sending an envoy to help with talks.
South Sudan's foreign minister, Barnaba Marial Benjamin, said the mediators had now been given the go-ahead to meet with Kiir's rivals, including Machar and his allies. South Sudan's foreign minister, Barnaba Marial Benjamin, told Reuters the African mediators had now been given the go-ahead to meet with Kiir's rivals, including Machar and his allies. They were due to make contact on Saturday.
"Let them also get confirmation from them that they are willing to dialogue," Benjamin told Reuters, adding that Kiir would have no problem speaking to Machar. United Nations staff say hundreds of people have been killed across the country the size of France this week and 35,000 civilians are sheltering at their bases.
The violence has killed hundreds and has world leaders worried that a full-blown civil war could ignite in South Sudan. The south fought a decades-long war with Sudan before a 2005 peace deal resulted in a 2011 referendum that saw South Sudan break away from the north, taking most of the region's oil wealth with it. Information minister Michael Makuei told Reuters that an army divisional commander in Unity State, John Koang, had defected and joined Machar, who had named him the governor of the state.
An International Crisis Group expert on South Sudan told Associated Press on Friday that rebels have taken control of at least some of South Sudan's oil fields, an issue that could bring Sudan into the conflict. South Sudan's oil flows north through Sudan's pipelines, providing Khartoum with much needed income. The United Nations said on Friday at least 11 people from the ethnic Dinka group had been killed during an attack by thousands of armed youths from another ethnic group on a UN peacekeeping base in Jonglei state. Two Indian peacekeepers died.
The UN security council on Friday said the week-long violence resulted from a "political dispute among the country's political leaders" that could affect not only South Sudan, but neighboring countries and the entire region.
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