S. Sudan loses oil town to rebels
South Sudanese rebel leader and former vice president Riek Machar addresses a meeting of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) in the Upper Nile state in South Sudan on April 15, 2014. South Sudan’s army said Wednesday rebels had wrested control of the key oil town of Bentiu, one of the most bitterly contested regions in the four-month-long conflict. AFP PHOTO / ZACHARIAS ABUBEKER
What you need to know:
- Rebels had previously seized Bentiu in December at the beginning of the conflict, but were chased out of it a month later.
- UN peacekeepers were patrolling the town, the mission said, including sending armoured carriers to guard the hospital and protect patients and staff.
South Sudan’s army said Wednesday rebels had wrested control of the key oil town of Bentiu, one of the most bitterly contested regions in the four-month-long conflict.
The town, capital of oil-producing Unity state, is the first major settlement to have been retaken in a renewed offensive by forces of rebel leader Riek Machar, a former vice-president.
“We are moving forward to retake the town from the forces of Riek Machar, who entered the town on Tuesday after our forces withdrew,” army spokesman Philip Aguer told AFP, accusing the rebels of “committing atrocities including the killing of civilians.”
Rebels had previously seized Bentiu in December at the beginning of the conflict, but were chased out of it a month later.
“The rebels were killing innocent people as they entered, there were killings at the hospital, in the market and mosque,” Aguer added, although the reports could not be independently confirmed.
UN peacekeepers were patrolling the town, the mission said, including sending armoured carriers to guard the hospital and protect patients and staff.
He had no reports of clashes on Wednesday due to communication problems, but said it “was highly likely there was fighting.”
But Aguer also accused gunmen from across the border in Sudan — from the Arab Misseryia tribe, as well as Janjaweed militia from Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region — of backing Machar’s forces, although the claims could not be verified.
Sudanese rebels fighting Khartoum’s government, from the Darfuri Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), have in turn been previously reported by security sources to have backed Juba’s army.
Rebel chief Machar had told AFP on Monday his forces would target crucial oilfields, vowing that the war will not end until the country’s president is removed from power.
The rebels, who celebrated the capture of Bentiu on Tuesday, issued at the same time an ultimatum to oil companies to shut down production.
Aguer said that the rebels had launched an attack on an oil refinery under construction near Bentiu at Lalop, but that it remained under the army’s control.
