First Vice President Riek Machar (L) delivers a speech to journalists next to South Sudan President Salva Kiir (C) and Vice President James Wani Igga (R) prior to the shooting outside the presidential palace in Juba on July 8, 2016. PHOTO: AFP
At least 115 soldiers from South Sudan’s rival factions were killed in gun battles in the capital Juba, a military spokesman for the opposition said on Saturday. The killings took place amid fears for a fragile peace process in a country still reeling from a two-year war.
Gunfire erupted on Friday evening near the state house where President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar were meeting for talks. Both men said they did not know what had triggered the latest fighting.
William Gatjiath Deng, spokesman for Machar’s military faction, said the fighting had occurred near the state house and in army barracks. “In the morning we collected and counted 35 (dead) from the SPLM-IO (Machar’s faction) and 80 people from the government forces,” he said.
Deng said the death toll could rise on Machar’s side ‘because there are
some soldiers seriously wounded’.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 10th, 2016.
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