South Sudan announced on Monday that it had conducted air strikes on rebel positions in Nasir County, located in the northwest of the country, as hostilities between government forces and opposition groups intensified. These clashes have raised concerns over the future of the fragile peace-sharing agreement between President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar.
Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth confirmed that the air force carried out the bombardment in Nasir as part of ongoing security operations. He stated that if civilians were caught in the strikes, there was little the government could do. Local sources reported that more than 20 people, including children, were killed in the attack.
The fighting in Nasir County has escalated tensions between the forces of Kiir and Machar, threatening to unravel the 2018 peace deal that ended a five-year civil war, which resulted in the deaths of nearly 400,000 people.
The government has accused Machar’s forces of colluding with the White Army, a militia made up of armed youths from the Nuer ethnic group, in stoking violence in the area. Tensions had already surged earlier in the month when an estimated 6,000 White Army fighters captured a military base in Nasir.
The situation worsened following an attempted rescue by the United Nations, which resulted in the deaths of a UN helicopter pilot and a senior South Sudanese general.
Lueth also confirmed the presence of Ugandan forces in the South Sudanese capital, Juba, under a “military pact,” despite previously denying their deployment. Ugandan Army Chief Muhoozi Kainerugaba had earlier stated that Ugandan special forces entered Juba to provide security.
The escalating violence in South Sudan has drawn international concern, with the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan warning of a troubling regression in the country’s progress, which could undo years of fragile stability.
