by Waakhe Simon Wudu
JUBA - South Sudan on Wednesday, January 15, marked a month of violence and political unrest but observers saw scant scope for a swift solution.
While peace talks continue in Addis Ababa, clashes continued raising the thousands-strong death toll, as government and rebels wrestle for control of key towns.
As fighting rages, three-weeks of peace talks have not managed to halt the killing and suffering of civilians.
South Sudan’s Minister of Defense Kuol Manyang Juuk told The Niles on Wednesday that fighting continues in some strategic spots throughout the nation, such as Malakal and Bor of Upper Nile and Jonglei states.
As the rebels battle to seize Malakal, they are in full control of Bor after extended clashes with the South Sudanese army, SPLA on December 31, 2013.
“There is fighting there [in Malakal],” Kuol said. “They [rebels] are not in full control of Malakal,” Kuol said dismissing reports by rebels that they now seized the city from the SPLA.
“The SPLA is in control of the northern and central parts of Malakal, he said, adding that rebels control the southern territory and there is ongoing fighting in Bor. Since the crisis broke out in Juba mid last month, the United Nations so far reported that over 1,000 people have been killed and close to 400,000 more others have been displaced.
Other observers have put the death toll as high as 10,000 but with many regions difficult to access and bodies still littering streets in some regions, the full extent of the killing is unclear.
On Tuesday, government officials said more than 200 people, mainly children and women, drowned in the White Nile river in a boat that overturned. The victims were fleeing violence in Malakal.
The spokesman in the office of the South Sudanese President, Salva Kiir, Ateny Wek Ateny told journalists on Wednesday in Juba that the President has expressed his condolence over the tragedy and pledged support to the affected families.
“The President assured all those affected that his government will provide support to the victims in the affected towns and villages in the days to come,” Ateny said, citing a statement by the President.
The European Union has expressed concern over the deaths and escalation of the violence, calling an end to the crisis with the two sides to cease hostilities unconditionally.
Describing the drowning as a “tragic incident”, the EU statement said it “adds to the human toll that the current conflict has already inflicted on the South Sudanese people”.
It said that “this dramatic event is a demonstration of the risks desperate and fearful people are willing to take. It is the responsibility of all the country’s leaders to ensure that situations like these do not happen”.
The EU, underscoring intense international pressure for peace, urged all parties involved to agree on an immediate, unconditional cessation to hostilities and violence and engage in a political process under the auspices of IGAD.
It called on all political and military leaders to protect the population and to act in the interests of the South Sudanese people as a whole.
Violence spread rapidly across a number of South Sudanese states after a clash on December 15, plunging the nation into its deepest crisis since gaining independence in 2011.
Fighting broke out at night in several army barracks and the government quickly accused the country’s ex Vice President Riek Machar and several other senior politicians of masterminding a coup d’état that was attempted to over throw the national government.
Riek is in hiding with forces loyal to him battling government troops in several parts of the country. Eleven of the accused politicians are currently detained by the government in Juba for their role in the “attempted coup”.
Efforts by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in mediating peaceful dialogue between the two warring sides have stalled repeatedly. After three weeks of dialogue in Addis Ababa, the government and rebels have not made any break throughs on any topic, including cessation of hostilities.
Blocking successful dialogue, the two parties are divided on the issue of the arrested politicians. Rebels demand their immediate release, a condition which the South Sudanese government has repeatedly rejected, saying that they are behind a coup plot and can only be released in accordance with South Sudan’s laws.