South Sudan: At Least 272 People Killed In Juba

He described the latest series of attacks as a “new betrayal” of the South Sudan people. The two rival leaders issued a joint call for calm after Friday’s fighting which began outside the presidential compound where Kiir and Machar were meeting and soon spread through the city.

A Chinese U.N. peacekeeper was killed and several Chinese and Rwandan peacekeepers injured, Japan’s U.N. ambassador, Koro Bessho, said on Sunday after the U.N. Security Council was briefed on the situation. A government spokesman later said the situation had been brought under control. Authorities attributed the cause of firing around the airport to a drunkard soldier who fired into the air, forcing other soldiers to fire back in an attempt to control the situation.

At least 272 people have died in fighting in the capital, Juba, including 33 civilians, a government source said on Sunday. Local media reported finding around 100 bodies in and around the compound.

Why does S Sudan matter so much to the US?

The violence has raised fears of renewed instability, with a 2015 peace deal failing to quell unrest.

Heavy gunfire was reported on Sunday near a military barracks occupied by troops loyal to Mr Machar.

Friday’s exchanges were apparently sparked by a shootout between bodyguards of Kiir and Machar.

The statement gives a break down showing 44 government soldiers, five police and 190 fighters believed to be SPLA-IO soldiers, given their distinctive military uniforms, died during the clashes which broke out the presidential palace on Friday.

South Sudan has seen more fighting than peace since independence in July 2011, with civil war breaking out December 2013 when President Salva Kiir accused Machar of plotting a coup.

“South Sudan’s civil war was fought largely along ethnic lines with Kiir, a Dinka, and Machar, a Nuer, drawing support from their respective tribes”, Reuters reports.

Fighting since 2013 has left swathes of the country of 11 million people struggling to find enough food to eat. Starvation puts the lives of thousands at risk.

A peace agreement last August ended the war but Kiir and Machar spent months after that wrangling over details and have yet to integrate their forces, a key part of the peace deal.

“It involved tanks, small arms fire and helicopter gunships, so it appeared to be a pretty massive confrontation”.

But huge distrust remains between Mr Kiir and Mr Machar and between their forces. The leaders may even be struggling to control their own troops.

One foreign worker in the Gudele district, on the outskirts of the city, told the BBC he was waiting to be evacuated from the area.

The UN mission in South Sudan is on a high security alert with no movement of personnel, said Shantal Persaud, spokeswoman for the UN mission.

Saturday marked the fifth anniversary of South Sudan’s independence from Sudan following a referendum in which the electorate agreed to secede by a near-unanimous vote.