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South Sudan: thousands flee Bentiu as government troops advance South Sudan: thousands flee city as government troops launch offensive
(about 9 hours later)
A mass exodus of residents is under way from a rebel stronghold in South Sudan amid fears of an imminent battle with government troops, according to reports. Thousands of people fled from a city in South Sudan on Thursday as government forces launched an offensive against rebels, wreaking fresh havoc in the world's newest country.
Thousands of people could be seen fleeing the city of Bentiu, one of the two main centres under rebel control, the BBC said. The South Sudanese army is believed to be about 16 miles (25km) away. Bentiu, capital of oil-rich Unity State, was said to be a ghost town as soldiers loyal to the president, Salva Kiir, tried to recapture it from his rival, Riek Machar. Even the hospital was reportedly deserted.
Bentiu is the capital of Unity state, which boasts significant oil, the dominant sector in the young country's economy. Oil production has slipped by a fifth since the conflict broke out three weeks ago. The UN said clashes and continuing mobilisation were reported in several locations in Bentiu, where there were reports of looting and shops being destroyed. Eight thousand citizens fled to impromptu UN camps, while others were hiding in remote areas and swamps.
The rebels' other main stronghold is Bor, the capital of Jonglei state, where fighting continued on Wednesday. Lul Ruai Koang, military spokesman for the rebels, said its forces had attacked government troops near the town. Bootjack Ke Dhuor, an oil field safety officer, said: "There are a lot of mosquitoes, the water is dirty, and there's no assistance. But it's better than the bullets that can come and kill people."
Koang said his troops were near the capital, Juba, and would await a command from the rebels' political leaders to attack if peace talks broke down. "We are ready, and once we are told what to do we'll get into action," he said. Dhuor, a 32-year-old father of four, was desperately trying to contact relatives in Bentiu. He said the population was mostly Nuer – Machar's ethnic group – and he feared they would be accused of colluding with the rebels. Kiir comes from South Sudan's biggest ethnic group, the Dinka.
In Juba, the government's military spokesman, Philip Aguer, said there had been fighting around Bor and elsewhere, including the Upper Nile state, where some oil fields are located. Although both leaders have significant support in the other's community, the conflict is seen by many as having an ethnic dimension. "This all happened because of a political struggle in the ruling party," Dhuor added. "The Dinka leadership doesn't want to share power because they're not interested in the interests of the people."
The lack of progress in the peace talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, has rattled world powers, who warn of a descent into all-out civil war. As residents fled from the fighting there were reports of widespread looting in Bentiu's city centre. Toby Lanzer, the UN assistant secretary general, tweeted on Wednesday night: "Moving around #Bentiu we came across armed men in uniform stealing a car from an international #NGO. Our efforts to stop it did not succeed."
The negotiations are deadlocked over a rebel demand to release 11 detainees who were arrested last year over an alleged coup plot. On Thursday he added: "In #Bentiu more looting of aid agency cars etc. by heavily armed (and increasingly unruly) men who told us they are part of the opposition … A main part of the heart of #Bentiu, ie its market, is no longer. The shops have been looted & largely destroyed."
On Wednesday, the government proposed to shift the peace talks to the UN compound in Juba, enabling the 11 detainees to attend the negotiations during the day and return to custody in the evening. "They [the rebels] seem to have rejected that," South Sudan's presidential spokesman, Ateny Wek Ateny, said. The hospital in Bentiu was standing empty, according to a doctor who worked there. "Even the wounded patients ran away," Dr Hassan Mugne said on Twitter.
Taban Deng Gai, the head of the opposition delegation at the Addis Ababa talks, said Juba was not a good venue. "I don't think that will be accepted from this side because Juba is a big prison," he said. As peace talks in neighbouring Ethiopia continue to falter, at least 201,000 people are now displaced across the country, 60,000 of whom are receiving UN support. An estimated 32,000 have fled to neighbouring Uganda, which has called for financial support.
The rebels, led by South Sudan's former president Riek Machar, had initially demanded the release of the detainees before the talks, but have since agreed to negotiate a ceasefire and the status of the detainees. There are 17,000 people at a UN base in the capital, Juba. Stalls selling iced drinks, traditionally brewed coffee, cigarettes and soap have sprung up along the camp's thoroughfare. But sanitation is a major issue, according to Malek Nyuak Ruk, a computer engineer. He said the facilities were inadequate and diarrhoea, malaria, bad water and insufficient shelter were all present at the camp. The threat of cholera is said to be increasing.
Asked whether Machar's representatives would quit the talks if the detainees were not freed, Mabior Garang, spokesman for the delegation and the son of the late veteran southern leader John Garang, said: "It is a decision that we will have to make as a group." Civilians have borne the brunt of this conflict with both sides accused of killing non-combatants. Gatcheck Lat Tol, 34, whose chest and left arm were bandaged after gunshot wounds, said he hid beneath corpses to survive a massacre.
The fighting is the worst in South Sudan since it won independence from Sudan in 2011 in a peace deal that ended one of Africa's longest civil wars. It has also displaced more than 200,000 people and cut oil exports. China, the biggest investor in South Sudan's oil industry, has called for an immediate ceasefire. Juba, where the violence started in mid-December, has been largely calm since the early clashes but large areas of the capital are still deserted and empty houses have been looted.
The international NGO Médecins Sans Frontières has warned that health needs are reaching emergency levels. "Highly vulnerable people have just become even more vulnerable," said Raphael Gorgeu, MSF's head of mission in South Sudan. "We don't know what will happen to the thousands of displaced and wounded people across the country." Gunfire has been heard in recent nights and a curfew is in place from 6pm to 6am. "It's too early for them to go back," said a UN policeman from Zimbabwe guarding the UN base.
Even before the recent fighting broke out in December, 80% of healthcare and basic services in South Sudan were provided by non-governmental organisations, MSF said. Bentiu is one of two state capitals where the government is battling to regain control. The other, Bor in Jonglei state, has also seen heavy fighting in recent days.
"Today, there is a high risk of epidemics, and if the fighting prevents us from gaining rapid and safe access to people in need – especially to pregnant women and children – conditions will quickly deteriorate," Gorgeu added. At least 1,000 people have been killed in South Sudan since 15 December following the eruption of the power struggle between Kiir and Machar, who was sacked as vice-president in July last year. The negotiations in Ethiopia are deadlocked over a rebel demand to release 11 detainees who were arrested last year over an alleged coup plot.
Edmund Yakani, director of South Sudan's Community Empowerment Progress Organisation, outlined three priorities for an end to the conflict: resolving the dispute over the detainees because currently "there is no compromise on both sides"; pressuring both sides to accept a ceasefire and end hostilities; and a shakeup of the ruling party because "their leadership needs to be held accountable". Yakani called for the international community to take a strong stand.
Alier Jok, who manages an investment company, called for a wide-ranging national process. "We need compromise. Try to understand what went wrong. It cannot be done by politicians alone because they serve their own interests."
The impasse has frustrated global powers including China, the biggest investor in South Sudan's oil industry, and America, which spent hundreds of millions of dollars in the country after guiding it to independence from Sudan amid great fanfare in July 2011.
On Thursday the top US diplomat for Africa warned that the risk of an all-out civil war was growing with each additional day of violence. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said ethnic atrocities were being committed on both sides and called on the government and rebel leaders to solve their disputes through dialogue, not fighting.
John Prendergast, co-founder of the anti-genocide campaign the Enough Project, told a US Senate foreign relations committee hearing: "A quick and dirty power-sharing deal is not the answer to South Sudan's problems. Simply redistributing power to combatant factions on the basis of the territory under their control would be a huge error.
"A cessation of hostilities is a first-order priority, but what follows must be much more inclusive, transparent, and multi-layered than any of the processes that have come before if sustainable peace is to have a chance in South Sudan."
Meanwhile Sudan has distanced itself from reports that it would form a joint force to help South Sudan protect its oil-producing regions and restore output. The army spokesman Colonel Khaled Sawarmi, citing past failure to improve military co-operation with South Sudan, told Reuters: "There is no common ground between the two armies."
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