South Sudan launches offensive against opposition forces: What to know

South Sudan’s army, pursuing territorial losses successful caller weeks, has announced a large subject cognition against absorption forces, raising fears for civilian safety.

In a connection connected Sunday, service spokesperson Lul Ruai Koang said Operation Enduring Peace would commence arsenic helium ordered civilians to evacuate 3 counties successful Jonglei authorities immediately. He directed assistance groups to permission wrong 48 hours.

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Koang told The Associated Press quality bureau connected Monday that the cognition aims to recapture towns precocious seized by absorption forces and “re-establish instrumentality and order”.

“The state is not astatine war,” Information Minister Ateny Wek Ateny told reporters successful Juba connected Tuesday. “We are lone stopping the advancement” of the absorption forces, helium said.

However, this came days aft a elder service commandant was filmed urging his troops to termination civilians and destruct spot successful the Jonglei offensive, drafting rebuke from the United Nations and others.

“It is present indisputable: South Sudan has returned to war,” said Alan Boswell, the International Crisis Group’s task manager for the Horn of Africa. “It is incredibly tragic for a state that lone grows weaker and poorer.”

Here’s what to cognize astir the resurgence of unit successful South Sudan:

Government’s battlefield losses

Beginning successful December, a conjugation of absorption forces seized a drawstring of authorities outposts successful cardinal Jonglei, a portion that is the homeland of the Nuer taste radical and an absorption stronghold.

Some of those forces are loyal to absorption person Riek Machar, portion others see themselves portion of an taste Nuer militia called the White Army. White Army fighters person historically fought alongside Machar but see themselves a chiseled group.

Machar, an taste Nuer, was made the astir elder of 5 vice presidents nether a 2018 bid agreement that ended warring betwixt his forces and those loyal to President Salva Kiir, an taste Dinka, the country’s largest group.

That five-year civilian warfare was waged mostly on taste lines, sidesplitting an estimated 400,000 people.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir [File: Tiksa Negeri/Reuters]

Suspension of government’s fig two

There has been a resurgence of unit successful the past year, with sporadic fighting.

Machar was suspended past twelvemonth arsenic South Sudan’s fig 2 aft White Army fighters overran a subject garrison successful the municipality of Nasir. He present faces treason and different charges implicit that attack, which authorities allege Machar helped orchestrate. But Machar’s allies and immoderate planetary observers accidental the charges are politically motivated. He remains nether location apprehension portion his proceedings unfolds dilatory successful the capital, Juba.

Machar’s proceedings is wide seen arsenic a usurpation of the 2018 bid agreement. Yet Kiir and his allies accidental the statement is inactive being implemented, pointing to a faction of the absorption inactive successful the unity government.

Forces loyal to Machar person declared the statement dead, and person since ratcheted up unit connected the service by seizing armouries and launching hit-and-run attacks connected authorities positions. The authorities has relied mostly connected aerial bombardments to bushed backmost a rebellion that analysts accidental is gaining momentum crossed aggregate states.

After seizing the authorities outpost of Pajut successful Jonglei connected January 16, absorption forces threatened to beforehand towards Juba. The authorities has responded by amassing fighters successful adjacent Poktap, portion respective 1000 Ugandan soldiers support Juba.

Army main Paul Nang gave his troops 1 week to “crush the rebellion” successful Jonglei.

‘Spare nary lives’

On Saturday, a time earlier the service announced its offensive, a elder subject commandant was filmed urging his forces to termination each civilians and destruct spot during operations successful Jonglei. It was not wide who took the video, which has been shared connected societal media.

“Spare nary lives,” General Johnson Olony told forces successful Duk county, not acold from Pajut. “When we get there, don’t spare an elderly, don’t spare a chicken, don’t spare a location oregon anything.”

Armed groups successful South Sudan, including the military, person repeatedly been implicated successful civilian abuses, including intersexual unit and forced recruitment.

Olony’s comments were peculiarly assertive and drew concern. “We are shocked, we are disturbed, we are surprised,” said Edmund Yakani, a salient civic leader.

His words showed that authorities troops were being “empowered to perpetrate atrocities, to perpetrate crimes against humanity, and, potentially, adjacent to perpetrate a genocide,” Yakani said.

South Sudan’s suspended First Vice President Riek Machar [File: Samir Bol/Reuters]

The UN Commission connected Human Rights successful South Sudan expressed “grave alarm” astatine developments that it said “significantly heighten the hazard of wide unit against civilians”.

Machar’s governmental radical said successful a connection that Olony’s words were an “early indicator of genocidal intent”.

Speaking to the AP, authorities spokesperson Ateny Wek Ateny called Olony’s comments “uncalled for” and “a gaffe of the tongue”.

But helium besides said portion it was imaginable that Olony was “trying to boost the morale of his forces”, his words are not indicative of authorities policy.

Olony, appointed adjunct main of defence forces for mobilisation and disarmament a twelvemonth ago, besides leads a militia, known arsenic the Agwelek, from his Shilluk people that agreed to integrate into the service past year.

The deployment of forces to Nuer communities by Olony is contentious due to the fact that of a abstracted rivalry betwixt the Shilluk and Nuer communities. In 2022, White Army fighters razed Shilluk villages and displaced thousands of civilians earlier the authorities intervened with onslaught helicopters.

Olony’s forces were besides progressive successful subject operations successful different Nuer communities past year.

Deploying him to Jonglei “is incendiary”, said Joshua Craze, an autarkic expert and writer connected South Sudan. “His beingness successful the authorities is simply a propaganda acquisition to the absorption successful its mobilisation efforts.”