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South Sudan troops 'recapture key oil city of Bentiu' | South Sudan troops 'recapture key oil city of Bentiu' |
(35 minutes later) | |
South Sudanese government forces have recaptured the oil hub of Bentiu from rebels, an army spokesman has told the BBC. | South Sudanese government forces have recaptured the oil hub of Bentiu from rebels, an army spokesman has told the BBC. |
Col Philip Aguer said the final resistance - a tank protecting a bridge to the city - had been overcome at 14:30 local time (11:30 GMT). | Col Philip Aguer said the final resistance - a tank protecting a bridge to the city - had been overcome at 14:30 local time (11:30 GMT). |
The rebels have not commented. | The rebels have not commented. |
UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous says the conflict has killed "very substantially in excess" of 1,000 people since 15 December. | UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous says the conflict has killed "very substantially in excess" of 1,000 people since 15 December. |
Ceasefire talks in neighbouring Ethiopia have stalled. | |
Bentiu is the capital of the oil-rich Unity state. The fighting has seen South Sudan's oil output fall by about 20%. | |
Col Aguer told Reuters news agency: "When you control Bentiu you control all the oil fields in Unity state." | |
Ahead of the government advance, thousands of people fled Bentiu, one of two main cities seized by rebel forces. | |
Several thousand have sought refuge in a UN base in the city, where people have been divided according to their ethnic group in order to prevent clashes. | |
The conflict has seen outbreaks of ethnic slaughter betweens Dinkas, the community of President Salva Kiir, and Nuers, like rebel leader Riek Machar. | |
The BBC's Andrew Harding in the South Sudan capital, Juba, says he understands that rebel forces withdrew from Bentiu ahead of the government advance. | |
He says the question now is whether its fall will prompt negotiators in Ethiopia to reach a ceasefire agreement to avoid further fighting. | |
Earlier, Col Aguer urged all civilians to leave Bentiu to avoid being caught in the crossfire. | |
"The earlier they leave, the better," he told the BBC's Outside Source programme. | |
He did not give any casualty figures but said that fighters on both sides had been killed. | |
UN envoy in South Sudan Toby Lanzer, earlier tweeted from Bentiu that UN peacekeepers had built up defences at the UN base to protect civilians. | |
Swimming under gunfire | |
Col Aguer said that from Friday afternoon, all the government forces would be focused on recapturing Bor - the other city under rebel control. | |
On Thursday, people fleeing Bor told the AFP news agency that gunmen had shot dead fleeing civilians, torched entire villages and looted crops. | |
One cattle herder told of swimming across the River Nile while being shot at. | |
"They [the attackers] had a machine gun raised up on a sandbank, and they fired and fired and fired as we swam," Gabriel Bol told AFP. | |
"The bullets were hitting the water, but we knew we could not stop or they'd shoot us." | |
Mr Ladsous on Thursday night told the UN Security Council that more than 250,000 had fled their homes because of the conflict. | |
South Sudan is the world's newest state. It became independent in 2011 after seceding from Sudan. |