Clashes erupt at army base over pay in tense South Sudan

JUBA/ADDIS ABABA Wed Mar 5, 2014 10:35am EST


The spokesman said the situation at the base in Juba was now under control.

The latest flare-up did not appear to be between government and rebel forces, but it highlights tension that persists in the army in Africa's newest nation that came close to civil war before a January 23 ceasefire that has proved shaky.

Regional African bloc IGAD has been trying to mediate but a new round of peace talks has yet to start in earnest. A top mediator said IGAD was aiming to send a contingent of troops to South Sudan to enforce the ceasefire and protect vital oil fields, after crude output fell by a third due to the conflict.


Spokesman for the government SPLA army Malak Ayuen said Wednesday's clashes erupted between body guards of commando commander Gatwech Gai, one of the few Nuer senior officers not to defect to Machar, also an ethnic Nuer. Kiir is a Dinka.

He said at least five soldiers were killed in the fighting that was sparked by some soldiers "asking from their commander why their salaries had been delayed".


Several of South Sudan's neighbors worry about turning the conflict into a regional tussle, and are frustrated by the continued violations of the ceasefire.


Wednesday's fighting was in the same barracks where clashes erupted in mid-December and led to a broader conflict that has killed thousands and driven more than 800,000 people from their homes. The conflict has re-opened deep ethnic faultlines.




Both sides have accused the other of breaking the truce. The worst fighting since the ceasefire was in Malakal, the capital of South Sudan's main oil producing Upper Nile State.






(Writing by Aaron Maasho and Richard Lough; Editing by Edmund Blair and Ralph Boulton)