MSF workers among those killed in renewed S. Sudan violence

Two aid workers attached to global medical charity, Doctors without Borders (MSF), are among those killed in renewed violence in South Sudan.

The medical organisation confirmed the deaths of its two South Sudanese employees, on Tuesday evening, three days after violence erupted in the country’s Unity State.

“While MSF has received confirmation of their deaths, we do not yet know the precise circumstances under which these killings took place,” MSF said in a statement.

The two identified as Gawar Top Puoy, a logistics operator and James Gatluak Gatpieny, a community health worker were killed in separate incidents in two villages.

Puoy who had worked with MSF since 2009 was killed in an attack in Wulu village near the town of Leer while his colleague who was felled at Payak. Gatpieny had joined the organisation in 2011.

“We're deeply shocked and saddened by the killings of our colleagues," said Tara Newell, MSF's Emergency Manager.

It’s an indication of current level of violence that people living in Unity State today are exposed to,” she said in a statement.

Unity State has been the stronghold of rebels, Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) under former Vice President Riek Machar.

But it has also come under attack from forces of President Salva Kiir’s government.

The two leaders differed in December 2013 leading to the violence experienced to date.

Last week, Machar and other political parties signed a peace deal in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to form a transitional government while President Kiir requested more time before he could sign.

But violence resumed shortly after Machar had signed the document that ironically suggests a permanent ceasefire. Both sides blamed each other for it.

President Kiir is expected to sign the agreement on Wednesday after meeting with regional leaders in Juba.

“We are dismayed by the renewed aggression by Salva Kiir’s government. Our forces came under unprovoked attack on Sunday morning in different states of the country.

“This is a serious attempt by government to abandon the path to peace and resort to military solution to the conflict,” said Machar’s spokesman James Gatdet Dak.

Juba later accused rebels of masterminding violence in Western Equatoria and Unity States.

In more than 20 months of violence, about 50,000 people have been killed and 2 million displaced, according to the UN organisation for the coordination humanitarian actions (OCHA).

MSF evacuated its international staff in Unity State in May after violence intensified. Its South Sudanese employees, like those killed last week, had been staying with their displaced families, the organisation said.