Juba: South Sudan’s promise as a newly independent state in 2011 devolved into civil war two years later, leaving tens of thousands dead and more than 2.6 million people displaced.
Soldiers loyal to President Salva Kiir - who belongs to the Dinka ethnic group, South Sudan’s largest - battled troops led by Riek Machar of the Nuer ethnic group, which is believed to be the second largest.
Troops on both sides committed human rights abuses against civilians on a devastating scale, UN human rights officials and other groups found.
A peace deal officially ended the fighting last year. Machar, who had served as vice president before he was dismissed in 2013, agreed to become Kiir’s deputy again and returned to Juba in April.
But then fighting broke out again between the two sides on July 7, killing hundreds. Machar’s residence was destroyed, and he fled the capital. He has refused to return to Juba unless more international troops are deployed.
Kiir has argued that the 12,000 troops from the UN mission already stationed in the country are sufficient.
Fighting erupted in South Sudan late on Saturday southwest of the capital between forces loyal to the president and the opposition, an opposition spokesman said, after fierce fighting last month in Juba raised fears of a slide back into civil war.
Witnesses reported heavy gunfire in the region around Yei, which lies on a road linking the capital Juba with neighbouring Uganda. There was no immediate comment from the government side.
Following the July fighting, the UN Security Council authorised the deployment of a 4,000-strong protection force to support the existing 12,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission.
Opposition spokesman James Gatdet blamed government forces for sparking clashes around Yei. “Our forces have managed to close Juba-Yei road. Our forces destroyed government’s convoy that attacked our forces in the area,” he said.
Each side regularly blames the other for any fighting.
Political differences between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar first erupted into conflict in late 2013. They signed a peace deal in August 2015, but sporadic fighting has continued.
Machar had recently returned to Juba to take up his position as deputy again when the July clashes flared. Machar then withdrew with his forces from the capital.
Kiir’s spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said after Friday’s vote for extra UN troops that the government would not accept the new force, describing it as a UN bid to take over South Sudan.
The United Nations had threatened an arms embargo if the government did not cooperate.
It was not immediately clear if fighting around Yei had continued into Sunday morning. Residents in Juba said mobile phone communications to the area had been broken.
Regional states have backed sending extra troops to South Sudan in a bid to quell the conflict and prevent any further spillover.
More than two million South Sudanese have been displaced by more than two years of conflict, and many fled to nearby states.
