Coup attempt in South Sudan?

[Idris2002]

New reports of fighting between factions in Juba, capital of South Sudan:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/12/16/uk-southsudan-unrest-idUKBRE9BF03P20131216

South Sudanese independence was supposed to put an end to decades of war between north and south Sudan. Doesn't look like it today.

 

[co-op]

New reports of fighting between factions in Juba, capital of South Sudan:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/12/16/uk-southsudan-unrest-idUKBRE9BF03P20131216

South Sudanese independence was supposed to put an end to decades of war between north and south Sudan. Doesn't look like it today.

Oh god, classic bit of western reporting on Africa...

Kiir and Machar are from rival ethnic groups which have clashed in the past.

Not saying that ethnicity won't be playing a part but Machar is a deeply devious and widely-hated figure who has operated as a stooge of the north for years and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he is still being played as part of a divide and rule policy from Khartoum.

 

[chilango]

I think it goes without saying that Khartoum will be involved in backing one or more of the various armed factions. They won't be the only ones though.

 

[co-op]

I think it goes without saying that Khartoum will be involved in backing one or more of the various armed factions. They won't be the only ones though.

Oh clearly, it was just this lazy journo thing about 'ethnic strife' being the underlying cause here that caught my eye - I mean they use it everywhere because it's the great liberal/right escape from politics, but in particular it gets wheeled out in Africa stories. I mean Machar (a Nuer) - was basically unable to even return home to most Nuer areas last time I was abreast of the Sudan situation because he was so hated there. So the idea that he is representing the Nuer is just daft, although he would obviously being doing his best to stir up racial conflict as it's about his only chance of rehabilitating himself there I guess.

 

[teqniq]

US military plane hit in South Sudan

Rebel fire hit two US military aircraft responding to the outbreak in violence in South Sudan, wounding three US service members and heavily damaging at least one of the aircraft, officials said.

South Sudan blamed the attack on renegade troops in control of the breakaway region.

The US military aircraft were heading to Bor, the capital of the state of Jonglei and scene of some of the nation's worst violence over the last week.

One American service member was reported to be in critical condition.

After the aircraft took incoming fire, they turned around and headed to Kampala, Uganda, officials said. From there the service members were flown on to Nairobi, Kenya for medical treatment, the officials told the Associated Press news agency....

Also this guy on Twitter seem to have quite a lot to say on the situation and some of the main people involved:

@JamesCopnall #SouthSudan Just spoken to Riek Machar. He says (this will take several tweets): James Koang has joined his rebellion, controls Unity state

 

[yield]

'Thousands' killed as South Sudan slides towards civil war
AFP 24 Dec 2013

Earlier, UN rights chief Navi Pillay said a mass grave had been found in the rebel-held town of Bentiu, while there were "reportedly at least two other mass graves" in the capital Juba.

The grim discovery follows escalating battles between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and those backing his rival Riek Machar, a former vice president who was sacked in July.

The official toll nationwide has stood at 500 dead for days, although aid workers have said the toll was likely to be far higher.

Witnesses that AFP has spoken to recount a wave of atrocities, including an orchestrated campaign of ethnic mass killings and rape.

Late on Tuesday, the Security Council voted to nearly double the number of UN peacekeepers and police.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon had called for the UNMISS force to be increased to counter a major outbreak of violence, and member states agreed to increase the military contingent to 12,500 troops.

A parallel civilian police deployment will reach 1,323.

Grim. Ten thousand ill equipped troops aren't going to be able to do much.

 

[teqniq]

Bentiu massacre is game-changer in South Sudan conflict, says UN official

The UN's top humanitarian official said on Tuesday that a massacre in South Sudan fuelled by hate speech on a public radio station was a "game-changer" in the country's four-month conflict.

Toby Lanzer said he saw "piles and piles" of bodies on a visit to the oil hub of Bentiu after rebels wiped out civilians based on their ethnicity and nationality. TV pictures showed corpses lying outside a mosque and piled up on a mechanical digger.

It is probably the worst single atrocity since fighting broke out in the world's newest country last December, and raises the prospect of a full-blown civil war along ethnic lines, intensifying pressure on the international community to intervene.

According to the UN, rebels slaughtered hundreds of people when they seized Bentiu, the capital of Unity state, hunting down men, women and children who had sought refuge in a hospital, a mosque and a Catholic church. The victims included Sudanese traders, especially from the Darfur region....

 

[teqniq]

 

[likesfish]

Chinese lost a peacekeepers yesterday a wheeled apc isnt going to help if someone targets you with a tank

 

[felixthecat]

Oh shitey mcshite. I have a friend there -she's a doctor setting up a primary care medical facility. I thought 6 months of living in a swamp was bad enough but now too.

Fuck.

 

[chilango]

I must have shared the story of how I tried to get to Juba back during the Sudanese Civil War?

A bunch of Nuns had introduced me to some refugees from the fighting who told me some pretty terrible stuff about what regime, oil companies and the Chinese were doing in their villages. I managed to get to some of the villages a bit closer to the front line and speak to a few more folk about this, blagging my way with a pretty hooky government travel permit, but I needed to fly to get to Juba. Obviously the regime wasn't going to tale me, so I needed to get on an aid flight. Heard of a plane with empty spaces with some NGO, but they point blank refused to give me a lift . Did manage to get a ride South to "visit a game reserve" sorted, and a visit to the front line with Eritrea organised but sadly as i finalising these plans my Sudanese world collapsed...

Very, very shady business out there. Huge amount of stirring going on from all over.