5 soldiers killed in shooting in S Sudan capital

Earlier in the week, Second Vice President James Wani Igga warned that the country could become ungovernable if the security forces don’t address the issue of unknown gunmen that have been killing people in Juba. A presidential source said he heard gunfire and explosions about two blocks away from presidential palace in Juba. “This incident also will be controlled and measures will be taken so that peace is restored”, he said. Kiir and Machar were safe, Machar’s chief of staff, Ezekial Lol Gatkuoth, said later.

A United Nations worker was also reportedly injured in a separate shooting and a U.S. embassy vehicle was also shot at, according to Nyarji Roman, a spokesman for rebel leader turned vice president Machar. The U.N. statement urged South Sudan authorities to investigate what it called a “grave violation” of the Status of Forces Agreement between South Sudan’s government and the U.N.

The base is hosting some 19,000 civilians displaced by the fighting.

However, fighting continues in parts of the country between various groups that are often motivated by local interests and do not consider themselves involved in the peace agreement.

Late on Thursday, at least five soldiers were killed in a clash that started when a group of soldiers backing Kiir had stopped vehicles carrying Machar loyalists in Gudele, a district of Juba where Machar has his political base.

Tens of thousands of people have died in the more than two years of civil war, close to three million have been forced from their homes and almost five million survive on emergency food rations.

The government forces should allow former opposition soldiers to join them at checkpoints and carry out security operations together, said Gatjieth, the spokesman for Machar’s faction.

“What is happening outside is something that we can not explain to you”, said Kiir.

He said a number of soldiers have been killed on the other side (SPLA), while two of their soldiers sustained wounds.

Brian Adeba, Associate Director at the Enough Project, said: “As South Sudan marks its fifth independence anniversary, it faces unprecedented challenges: the implementation of the peace deal is stalling and the economy is in dire straits”.

Separately, a UN mission reported an “indiscriminate shooting attack on a senior United Nations agency official” on Thursday evening, in the Tomping area of Juba.

South Sudan’s opposing army factions have been stationed in Juba since April as part of a peace deal signed previous year to unite the warring sides.

Fighting has continued outside the capital with the most recent serious clashes taking place in the town of Wau late last month.

A 2015 study conducted in six of the country’s 10 states by the South Sudan Law Society and the U.N. Development Programme said 41 percent of South Sudanese citizens have symptoms of PTSD.