| Submit your comments on this article |
| Africa Horn |
| Armed youths reported to be marching toward South Sudan town |
| 2013-12-29 |
| [LATIMES] Thousands of armed youths loyal to South Sudan's rebel leader are preparing to launch an assault on the key town of Bor, a government official said Saturday, as continued fighting in the fragile new country dimmed prospects of a cease-fire. The South Sudanese government has said it is willing to end hostilities with rebels led by former Vice President Riek Machar, who is in a power struggle with President Salva Kiir. But Machar has responded warily to the calls by East African countries for a truce, telling the BBC that any talks of a cease-fire must be serious and credible, and negotiated by representatives from both sides. "Until mechanisms for monitoring are established, when one says there is a unilateral cease-fire, there is no way the other person would be confident this is a commitment," Machar told the broadcaster. At least 121,600 people have fled their homes, and thousands are feared dead since fighting broke out Dec. 15, according to the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... . Some 63,000 civilians have sought shelter inside U.N. bases. Government troops are in control of Bor, the strategically important capital of Jonglei state, after it briefly fell to the rebels. Military front man Col. Philip Aguer told news hounds Saturday that some 25,000 young Luo-Nuer men, from the same tribe as Machar, were on the march toward Bor. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 this is what helicopter gunships were made for |
| Posted by: Frank G 2013-12-29 10:13 |