Gunfire flares near compound of South Sudanese president
Salva Kiir was preparing to speak to the nation about recent deadly violence
JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN— Heavy gunfire erupted outside the compound of South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Friday evening as he was preparing to address the nation on the latest deadly fighting in the capital, Juba, that has sparked fears of a return to civil war.
Fighting continued Friday night outside a UN base sheltering thousands of civilians, and one displaced person told The Associated Press that a few had been hit in the crossfire. People lay on the ground to avoid the bullets, he said, insisting on speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak publicly.
The gunfire began when Kiir and First Vice-President Riek Machar, the former rebel leader, were meeting about recent violence. They told reporters they did not know what was happening. Panicked residents struggled to determine who was shooting at who, and why.
Both Kiir and Machar urged calm, and Machar said “measures will be taken so that peace is restored even to the heart of the city,” South Sudan’s Radio Tamazuj tweeted. Kiir and Machar were safe, Machar’s chief of staff, Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, said later.
A reporter with The Associated Press in Juba said the gunfire was a mix of heavy and light weapons and initially came from the direction of the neighbourhood of the presidential palace.
The U.S. Embassy told its citizens to “shelter in place, preferably away from doors and windows.”
The UN mission in South Sudan tweeted “heavy gunfire+shelling” at its civilian protection site in Juba as big explosions and gunfire were heard nearby and into the night. Spokeswoman Shantal Persaud told The Associated Press that heavy artillery was coming from “basically all around.” The base shelters about 28,000 displaced people.
South Sudan state television urged residents to “be calm and stay in your house. . . . The security is well-maintained in this country.”
The gunfire came a day after five South Sudanese government soldiers were killed in a shootout between opposing army factions in the capital.
The violence is similar to the skirmish between soldiers in Juba in December 2013 that led to the country’s civil war in which tens of thousands of people were killed.
The new fighting comes just before South Sudan marks its fifth independence anniversary on Saturday.
The violence “is yet another illustration of the parties’ lack of serious commitment to the peace process and represents a new betrayal of the people of South Sudan,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement.
South Sudan’s opposing army factions have been stationed in Juba since April, part of a peace deal signed last year to unite the warring sides. They are meant to hold joint patrols to keep peace, but they have yet to work together and remain stationed in separate areas.
In a statement Friday, the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission that oversees the ceasefire said the recent fighting in many parts of the country could be in “flagrant violation” of the peace deal.