Artillery fire near S.Sudan capital reawakens fears of war
Artillery fire near S.Sudan capital reawakens fears of war
Residents in the South Sudanese capital Juba awoke Wednesday to the sound of artillery as clashes between rival factions threaten a return to civil war.
"People are in a panic. They feel the country is going back to war," Ter Mammer-Male, an economist in Juba, told AFP.
Forces supporting President Salva Kiir and his long-time rival, First Vice President Riek Machar, have been clashing for weeks in several areas of the country, particularly the northeastern Upper Nile State.
But fighting on the outskirts of the capital has revived the worst memories of the civil war that raged between 2013 and 2018, killing some 400,000 people and displacing four million.
Mammer-Male said heavy artillery could be heard around 4:00 am from the town of Rajaf, site of a military training centre for Machar's forces.
Two AFP correspondents in the capital also heard detonations at dawn coming from the area, which is southeast of the capital.
The military wing of Machar's party said two of its training centres had been attacked since Tuesday at Rajaf and another at Rambur and this followed an attack on a separate military base at Wunaliet on Monday.
"I was farming near the river and the gun shots were very close to us. We all ran from the farm," said Imoyia, a farmer in Rajaf who gave only her first name.
"The military came to our area and told children to vacate the school and go home," she told AFP.
"I have nowhere to take my children and if it turns worse, we have to run to Juba."
The training centres were established to prepare opposition forces for integration into a unified army, a key provision of the 2018 power-sharing agreement between Kiir and Machar that ended the civil war, but which has seen limited implementation.
"Our leaders need to embrace dialogue rather than guns," Lilian Sukeji, a resident of Juba, told AFP.
"I woke up this morning and found streets are empty with very limited movements," she said.
"I am so worried about the situation. I feel like we are going back to war while we still need peace."
AFP journalists said there was calm in Juba later on Wednesday, with people back on the streets and businesses operating.
But aid workers are deeply pessimistic about the evolving situation.
"This peace agreement is almost dead and it's just a matter of time before violence really goes out of control," a foreign aid worker told AFP by phone on condition of anonymity.
"This upsurge in violence is probably a foreshadow for more violence. And there are concerns that this is what's going to happen in a few days, probably in a few weeks," he added.
His South Sudanese colleagues are "already traumatised" by the previous conflict and have begun preparations for another, relocating from rural areas and sending family members to Uganda for safety.
"People are just tense, and you know, they are expecting that any minute fighting might break out in Juba," he said.
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This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
