Thousands flee heavy fighting in Juba

Displaced South Sudanese women walk towards the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) base in Malakal on January 13, 2014. The violence began Friday when brief but heavy exchanges of fire left 150 soldiers dead on both sides, according to officials. PHOTO | FILE | AFP  

By AFP

In Summary

• The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting behind closed doors Sunday evening to discuss the situation.
• Several parts of the city were engulfed by the violence, including Gudele — where Machar is headquartered — and central Tongping near the international airport, with gunfire intensifying and subsiding at different times.
• Regional leaders, including from Kenya and Sudan, urged an end to the fighting and plan to hold a special summit in Nairobi on Monday.
• UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "shocked and appalled" at the resumption in fighting and urged both sides to halt the violence.

Thousands fled heavy fighting in South Sudan's capital Juba on Sunday as government soldiers and former rebels traded fire in a return to hostilities that has claimed scores of lives, threatening a shaky peace deal.

The battles are the first between the army and ex-rebels in Juba since rebel leader Riek Machar returned to take up the post of vice president in a unity government in April, under an accord to end a bloody civil war.

The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting behind closed doors Sunday evening to discuss the situation.

The violence began Friday when brief but heavy exchanges of fire left 150 soldiers dead on both sides, according to officials. Local media gave a higher toll of around 270 killed.

Sunday's clashes began on the western outskirts of the city, where Machar's forces and government soldiers both have bases, and then spread to other areas.

There were no immediate details of casualties from Sunday's fighting.

Several parts of the city were engulfed by the violence, including Gudele — where Machar is headquartered — and central Tongping near the international airport, with gunfire intensifying and subsiding at different times.

South Sudan's information minister Michael Makuei blamed the former rebels for the violence and insisted Sunday afternoon the government was "in full control of Juba".

Regional leaders, including from Kenya and Sudan, urged an end to the fighting and plan to hold a special summit in Nairobi on Monday.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "shocked and appalled" at the resumption in fighting and urged both sides to halt the violence.

Speaking ahead of the Security Council meeting, France's UN Ambassador Francois Delattre blamed the situation on "a lack of political will on the side of the parties" to the conflict.

"The key word is pressure, to urge the parties to take their responsibilities," he said.

Human Rights Watch in a statement said the Security Council had "for too long... relied on the goodwill of South Sudan's leaders, neglected accountability and brandished empty threats of an arms embargo and individual sanctions" and called for it to "finally" ban arms sales to the country.

The violence comes a day after the world's youngest country marked its fifth independence anniversary, and is a fresh blow to the peace deal that has failed to end the civil war that broke out in December 2013.

City residents hunkered down or began fleeing their homes as the UN reported the use of mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and "heavy ground assault weaponry". Helicopter gunships and tanks were also deployed during the course of the day.