South Sudan’s latest cease-fire is violated within hours
Posted Jun 30, 2018 07:48:31 AM.
Last Updated Jun 30, 2018 09:00:16 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
DUBLIN – South Sudan’s armed opposition claims government troops have violated the country’s latest cease-fire just hours after it began at midnight.
Spokesman Lam Paul Gabriel says government forces and Sudanese rebel militias launched a “heavy joint attack” in Mboro, Wau County in the northwest around 7 a.m., arriving in armoured personnel carriers, trucks and Land Cruisers.
Gabriel says “the fight is still ongoing as I write” and calls on the U.N. peacekeeping mission and cease-fire monitors to investigate, adding that the opposition reserves the right to self-defence.
Government spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny tells The Associated Press the opposition attacked instead.
The previous cease-fire in December was violated within hours, prompting a new push by the international community to threaten U.N. and regional sanctions against those blocking the path to peace.
