Deadly fighting between rivals in SSudan VP Machar's party
Riek Machar is a pivotal figure in South Sudan's bloody road to independence and subsequent civil war
Deadly fighting erupted 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.
At least 30 people were killed in the clashes in White Nile State that borders Sudan, Machar's military spokesman said in a statement, claims that could not be immediately confirmed.
Tensions boiled over this week in the Sudan People's Liberation Army-In Opposition 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.
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 spokesman Colonel Lam Paul Gabriel said.
Machar's forces had killed two major generals and over 27 "enemy" soldiers, while they had lost three men in their own ranks, he added.
There was no immediate response to requests for comment from Gatwech's side, but his deputy spokesman Chuol Deng told South Sudanese station Radio Tamazuj that Machar's forces had instigated the attack.
"We have captured some vehicles from the attackers. We have so far lost one soldier and two others sustained injuries," Deng said.
Gabriel claimed 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 Sudan People's Liberation Army-In Opposition announced on Wednesday they had deposed the rebel-turned-politician for failing to represent their interests.
The military wing 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.
The 68-year-old, 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 -- after a string of failed peace accords and violated ceasefires -- 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 cracks soon appeared, as key provisions of the peace accords went unfulfilled.
As the 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.
This week, South Sudan swore in hundreds of MPs to a newly created national parliament, a key condition of the truce but almost a year behind schedule.
