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South Sudan’s army claimed on Tuesday that David Yau Yau, who has been leading a rebellion out of Pibor county in Jonglei state since April 2012, has agreed to cease hostilities against government forces.
Yau Yau’s rebel group in eastern part of Jonglei is constituted from his Murle ethnic group. He originally rebelled in 2011 after he failed to become a local legislator during the 2010 elections.
News reports from Bosaaso suggest that At least 5 Puntland soldiers have been killed and more others wounded in Laad, 30 KM southern Bosaso, the capital of Bari region, reports said.
Local residents told Shabelle Media in Mogadishu that unidentified men armed with K47s and machine guns attacked on Puntland forces in south of Bosaso, killing five soldiers, injuring others.
South Sudan’s government and rebels sent delegates to peace talks in Ethiopia on Tuesday, officials said, but ethnic fighting raged on in the world’s youngest nation and both sides battled for control of a state capital.
Militias loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar fought their way on Tuesday morning into the centre of Bor, the main town in the vast, underdeveloped Jonglei state and the site of an ethnic massacre in 1991, witnesses said.
The UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) Thursday confirmed attacks on rebels who reportedly killed at least 42 civilians in the eastern province of North Kivu.
In a statement, the UN mission MONUSCO said its helicopters raided the Ugandan rebels ADF-NALU Wednesday and regained control of the positions seized by rebels, who were linked to the killing of 42 civilians in the village of Kamango bordering Uganda, Xinhua reported.
The government of South Sudan said on its Twitter feed on Friday that it “agreed in principle to a ceasefire to begin immediately, but our forces are prepared to defend themselves if attacked.”
It came after a meeting of East African leaders in Nairobi on Friday, who urged South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and former Vice President Riek Machar to meet face-to-face and try to resolve their differences.
South Sudan’s army recaptured Bor, the capital of Jonglei state on Tuesday which was seized by forces loyal to Maj-Gen Peter Gadet last week, the military’s spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Philip Aguer described the South Sudanese army’s (SPLA) mission to Jonglei as a “rescue assault” in order to free the thousands of people who have been forced to flee the area or seek hostage inside the UN base there.
South Sudanese troops are preparing to enter the rebel-held town of Bor, President Salva Kiir has said.
Mr Kiir told parliament the army was “ready to move”, adding that the counter-attack had been delayed to allow US citizens to be airlifted out.