South Sudan’s Bentiu city residents flee government advance

The BBC’s Alastair Leithead says it appears government troops are moving on Bentiu
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South Sudan strife
• China’s oil fears
• Under attack
• Bitter divide
• Shelter by the Nile
Thousands of people are fleeing the South Sudanese city of Bentiu amid fears of a government offensive to recapture the oil-rich area from rebels, a BBC reporter there says.
Many people are taking refuge in a UN base in Bentiu, says Alastair Leithead.
Meanwhile, ceasefire talks between the two sides appear to be deadlocked over the government’s imprisonment of 11 alleged coup plotters.
At least 1,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
Nearly 200,000 people have been forced from their homes in the fighting, which has seen ethnic violence between the Dinka and Nuer communities.
Many foreign governments have evacuated their nationals, while many South Sudanese are crossing by land into neighbouring states.
The conflict broke out in mid-December when President Salva Kiir accused his ex-deputy, Riek Machar, of plotting a coup.
The conflict has split the army in the world’s newest state
Fighting has left nearly 200,000 people homeless
Mabior Garang (c) is part of the rebel delegation in talks
Mr Machar denied the allegation, and called for the unconditional release of 11 of his allies who were detained over the alleged plot.
On Wednesday, regional mediators Seyoum Mesfin and Lazurus Sumbeiywo flew out of South Sudan’s capital, Juba, after talks with Mr Kiir.
‘Heavy artillery fire’
However, they failed to break the deadlock over the fate of the detainees, a key obstacle to the two sides negotiating a ceasefire, Juba-based journalist Mading Ngor told the BBC’s Focus on Africa.
Mr Kiir offered to free the detainees to take part in the regionally-brokered talks, if the discussions were moved from Ethiopia to Juba.
However, he said they would have to return to their places of detention at night.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
South Sudan is facing a serious crisis that comes on top of a situation that was already difficult”
End Quote Peter Maurer ICRC head
This offer was immediately rejected by Mr Machar’s allies.
Government troops are believed to be about 25 kilometres (16 miles) from Bentiu, capital of Unity state, our correspondent says.
Unity state is rich in oil, the main foreign exchange earner of South Sudan.
Oil production has dropped by 20% since the conflict started.
Bentiu and Bor, the capital of Jonglei state, are the two main centres under rebel control.
Fighting was continuing around Bor, as government forces tried to recapture it, army spokesman Philip Aguer said, AFP news agency reports.
It says its reporter reached the town of Minkammen, 25 kilometres south of Bor, and the area was flooded with fleeing civilians.
Heavy artillery fire could also be heard in the distance, AFP reports.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the humanitarian situation in South Sudan is dire.
“South Sudan is facing a serious crisis that comes on top of a situation that was already difficult,” ICRC president Peter Maurer said, at the end of a three-day visit to the country.
“It is unquestionable that the needs are dire, but their full scope is unknown,” Mr Maurer added in a statement.
South Sudan is the world’s newest state.
It became independent in 2011 after seceding from Sudan.
Mr Kiir comes from the largest ethnic group, the Dinka, while Mr Machar is a Nuer.
Both leaders have influential backers in the other group, even though the conflict has taken an ethnic dimension.
Mabior Garang, a Dinka, is a key member of the rebel delegation in talks in Ethiopia. He is the son of veteran southern leader John Garang, who died in 2005.
Fighting erupted in the South Sudan capital, Juba, in mid-December. It followed a political power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his ex-deputy Riek Machar. The squabble has taken on an ethnic dimension as politicians’ political bases are often ethnic.

Sudan’s arid north is mainly home to Arabic-speaking Muslims. But in South Sudan there is no dominant culture. The Dinkas and the Nuers are the largest of more than 200 ethnic groups, each with its own languages and traditional beliefs, alongside Christianity and Islam.
Both Sudan and the South are reliant on oil revenue, which accounts for 98% of South Sudan’s budget. They have fiercely disagreed over how to divide the oil wealth of the former united state – at one time production was shutdown for more than a year. Some 75% of the oil lies in the South but all the pipelines run north

The two Sudans are very different geographically. The great divide is visible even from space, as this Nasa satellite image shows. The northern states are a blanket of desert, broken only by the fertile Nile corridor. South Sudan is covered by green swathes of grassland, swamps and tropical forest.

After gaining independence in 2011, South Sudan is the world’s newest country – and one of its poorest. Figures from 2010 show some 69% of households now have access to clean water – up from 48% in 2006. However, just 2% of households have water on the premises.

Just 29% of children attend primary school in South Sudan – however this is also an improvement on the 16% recorded in 2006. About 32% of primary-age boys attend, while just 25% of girls do. Overall, 64% of children who begin primary school reach the last grade.

Almost 28% of children under the age of five in South Sudan are moderately or severely underweight – this compares with the 33% recorded in 2006. Unity state has the highest proportion of children suffering malnourishment (46%), while Central Equatoria has the lowest (17%).

8 January 2014 Last updated at 16:02
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China’s oil fears over South Sudan fighting
By Yuwen Wu BBC Chinese

Continue reading the main story
South Sudan strife
• Under attack
• Bitter divide
• Shelter by the Nile
• Clashes explained
The stakes could not be higher for China, the largest investor in South Sudan’s oil sector, as fierce fighting continues between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those of his former deputy.
Some of the largest oil fields China operates are in areas controlled by fighters backing Riek Machar, the country’s vice-president until he was sacked in July.
Oil production has already dropped by 20% since the onset of the conflict three weeks ago and more than 300 Chinese workers have been evacuated.
The spectre of their Libyan experience also weighs heavily on the Chinese minds – project after project now lies deserted because of heavy fighting during the Arab Spring uprising of 2011, inflicting huge losses on China.
Continue reading the main story
China’s investment in the Sudans
• An estimated $20bn before the countries split
• $8bn in South Sudan following secession
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi personally attended the talks in Addis Ababa this week
It is no surprise then that China is putting its full weight behind the peace talks in Addis Ababa.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi was in the Ethiopian capital on Monday and made it clear that China wanted both sides to stop fighting and seek a reasonable and rational way out.
According to media reports, he was even willing to mediate personally between the warring sides.
It is unclear if Mr Wang has been able to do this, but his message was important, reports the BBC’s Emmanuel Igunza from Addis Ababa.
It demonstrates how seriously the international community is taking the crisis – with many diplomats present at the talks, he says.
Apart from China’s Africa envoy Zhong Jianhua, US special envoy Donald Booth and EU special representative Alexander Rondos are also attending.
Fraught with risk
China invested some $20bn (£12bn) in Sudan before it split into two countries in 2011, according to Chinese media reports.
There is little champagne or oil flowing in South Sudan at the moment
Another $8bn was pledged to President Kiir during his visit to China the year following secession, to be used for infrastructure projects and the oil sector.
The heavy investment seems to have borne fruit, as in the first 10 months of 2013, China imported 1.9 million tonnes of oil (nearly 14 million barrels) from South Sudan, twice as much as China imports from Nigeria each year.
Though amounting to less than 1% of China’s total oil imports, it makes up roughly two-thirds of oil exported by the world’s youngest nation and is expected to increase.

Two years ago, China suffered heavy losses in its Libyan projects, including infrastructure, telecommunications and oil.
Many constructions were halted and sites looted or destroyed during the revolution which toppled long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The total loss was estimated by several Chinese media reports to be in the region of $20bn, although no official figures exist.
Compensation talks with the new Libya government stalled as their priority was very much on nation-building and improving the living conditions of the Libyan people.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
More than half of China’s investment in the overseas oil sector is found in areas which are considered unstable”
End Quote
Economic boom
Experts point out that China has taken tremendous risks in its search for oil.
This is because the country’s economic boom continues to require a great deal of oil – home production is limited and reliance on exports reached 56% in 2012.
But all the known global markets have been dominated by Western companies or have been off-limits because of sanctions, leaving China with little choice but to adopt high-risk strategies.
Nowadays, more than half of China’s investment in the overseas oil sector is found in areas which are considered unstable, including Iran, Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan and Venezuela.
Some Chinese oil workers kidnapped in Sudan died during rescue efforts
Chinese workers have been caught in the conflicts for control of oil by various forces in Sudan.
In 2008, five Chinese oil workers kidnapped by rebels in Sudan’s South Kordofan province were killed during a rescue attempt.
Four years later, another 29 Chinese construction workers were abducted in the same province and were only released 11 days later after intense negotiations.
The Sudanese rebels were quoted as saying that they did not want to harm the workers, but they aimed to send a signal to the Chinese government that they did not want them to be involved in the conflict over oil in Sudan.
But what is currently happening in South Sudan seems far more serious than kidnappings.
China must be praying for a quick end to the trouble so life on the oil fields can return to normal.
In the meantime, some experts also predict that China might be forced into re-thinking its high-risk oil strategy.

The BBC outlines the background to South Sudan’s crisis – in 60 seconds.

•
South Sudan: Under attack outside Bor

The BBC’s Alastair Leithead and cameraman Jack Garland were with government troops when they were ambushed
Continue reading the main story
South Sudan strife
• China’s oil fears
• Bitter divide
• Shelter by the Nile
• Clashes explained
Travelling with a convoy of government troops in South Sudan seeking to retake the rebel-held town of Bor, the BBC’s Alastair Leithead witnesses the forces coming under attack.
The general strode out confidently, leading his men on foot straight up the dusty, pot-holed track to Bor, South Sudan’s most contested city.
Reinforcements were arriving by truck and by boat, and as the sun rose hundreds of soldiers chanting war songs marched at a dusty camp on the banks of the Nile.
Morale was high.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
As cars accelerated over the potholes, some soldiers were thrown from the back and at least one was run over”
End Quote
We would be “eating dinner, if not lunch” in the city the rebels had held for days, we were told.
But progress was slow as the convoy moved along the road to Bor, and within 50km (30km) of the city we started to see the evidence of recent fighting.
Bodies on the road, burned out tanks, abandoned villages and military barracks, which both look very similar.
As the convoy staggered and swayed through the pot holes, suddenly things started happening ahead – cars turned around, troops took cover.
Panic
There was a burst of firing ahead and then a barrage of rockets fired out into the thick bush beside the road.
It was after the dust had settled that the general decided to walk – leading a column of vehicles to the next camp along the road.
The commanding general (centre) seemed confident the road was clear
Reinforcements for the government troops arrived by boat singing war songs
Then it happened again.
This time it was an attack from the front and an ambush from the side, which sent troops into a panic.
Many opened fire – some were shot perhaps by their own side.
One young soldier near us had been hit – the bullet grazed his back and took a chunk out of his neck.
We called for medics, but there were none – we used a field dressing to stop the bleeding and put him in the shade until he could be moved.
He was not critically injured, but with an eight-hour drive down an unpredictable road it was going to be a long journey by boat up the Nile, with the other injured troops.
Blow to morale
There were bodies too.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
As the sun set we headed south away from the fighting – risking poor roads in the dark rather than the chaos of a night time ambush”
End Quote
Among them was a very senior general – a man known for his determination to lead from the front – and his death was a blow to morale.
He was shot and injured in the ambush and was being driven back for help when the car was peppered with bullets. He and at least two other soldiers died.
A tank rolled up to secure a village where three long boats landed – each carrying perhaps 150 soldiers.
They were also chanting South Sudanese war songs as they jumped ashore.
While the generals were deciding the next step and still promising we would soon be in Bor, a third attack was launched.
Panic quickly spread across the camp as troops ran back down the road in disarray.
Both sides in the conflict have heavy weapons
South Sudan is the world’s newest nation
As cars accelerated over the potholes, some soldiers were thrown from the back and at least one was run over.
Guns were thrown down or left and the generals drove back to a rear position miles down the road.
As the sun set we headed south away from the fighting – risking poor roads in the dark rather than the chaos of a night time ambush.
When we hear of “rebel soldiers”, the image is perhaps different from the situation on the ground – 5,000 regular troops switched sides on ethnic grounds and now support the rebels.
It is they, and thousands more armed civilians from the Nuer tribal militia, that defend Bor.
This is the army fighting the army with tanks and heavy weapons – and tens of thousands of people here have been forced to flee across the Nile and are now in need of food and clean water.
The longer the talks go on without a ceasefire the greater the incentive for both sides to try and gain the military upper hand and win more chips to bargain with.
Fighting erupted in the South Sudan capital, Juba, in mid-December. It followed a political power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his ex-deputy Riek Machar. The squabble has taken on an ethnic dimension as politicians’ political bases are often ethnic.
•
Analysis: South Sudan’s bitter divide
Despite numerous personal difficulties, David says that he has no regrets about South Sudan winning its independence
Continue reading the main story
South Sudan strife
• China’s oil fears
• Under attack
• Shelter by the Nile
• Clashes explained
Despite calls for a ceasefire and peace talks, fighting is continuing in South Sudan, the world’s newest state. From the capital Juba, the BBC’s James Copnall reports on the background to the conflict.
In the middle of a new camp for the scared and the desperate, made up of hundreds of makeshift shelters clustered around a road, I saw a familiar face.
When I first interviewed David in 2011, he was in Khartoum.
A southern Sudanese, he had fled the fighting in his home area, and was living in what was then still the capital of the united Sudan.
At the time he was planning to go back home, to celebrate South Sudan’s upcoming independence.
A few months later, we met again in Juba.
Life was hard, he said. There were not many jobs. But the euphoria of independence still glowed strong, whatever the challenges.
Now David is displaced in his own country, one of tens of thousands seeking shelter at a UN base to escape the fighting which is devastating South Sudan.
Military impulse
The implosion has happened incredibly quickly.
Thousands of people have been displaced in the latest bout of fighting
The clashes began on 15 December in the capital Juba, and within days spread to several other places around the country.
The problems have deep roots. Some of them can be found in David’s own story.
At independence, South Sudan was extremely fragile.
The new country had suffered through decades of conflict with Khartoum.
South Sudan’s leaders are all former rebels, and the step from a political problem to a military response is one that is made far too easily here.
Those former rebels had also often fought each other, most notably after Riek Machar and others split away from the main rebel group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M), in 1991.
Ethnic nepotism
The war also deepened ethnic tensions, in part because Khartoum armed some ethnic groups against others.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
The political class will need to govern for the people, and not for their own self-interest”
End Quote
At separation, South Sudan was one of the least developed places on Earth, the result of decades of neglect and the long war years.
Millions like David had fled their homes.
Any government would have struggled to overcome these sort of challenges.
However, South Sudan’s political class has failed the people.
Corruption is widespread, as is regional and ethnic nepotism.
This is what David, and many others, were complaining about after independence.
In addition, a political rift within the SPLM grew wider.
President Salva Kiir and his deputy, Mr Machar, who had been on opposite sides of the 1991 split, grew more and more antagonistic.
In time, other influential figures, including ministers and SPLM Secretary General Pagan Amum also began to criticise the president.
South Sudan’s politicians need to forge a genuine national identity, which puts the national interest first
He was accused of sacking state governors unconstitutionally, quashing dissent in the party and not allowing a democratic challenge to his rule.
“You can’t ignore the ethnic dimension in all this,” one then-minister told me, suggesting that Mr Machar’s fellow ethnic Nuers wanted power at the expense of Salva Kiir’s Dinka community.
Ethnic tensions were only part of the picture: this was a political squabble first and foremost, and many of President Kiir’s critics were from his own ethnic group.
That said, in South Sudan, politicians’ political bases are often ethnic ones.
In July, President Kiir sacked all his cabinet – and Mr Machar.

The BBC’s Alastair Leithead reports from Awerial, home to 75,000 people
Then came the events of 15 December, which will be debated for years.
President Kiir says he warded off a coup – his critics say he simply tried to crush them.
Outside the country, at least, President Kiir has not been able to convince that many people that this was, indeed, an attempted coup.
Move to war
Whatever the trigger, this quickly became a war, with Mr Machar leading rebel forces that have taken key towns like Bor and Bentiu, as well as oilfields.
A political squabble has become a conflict – and one with nasty ethnic undertones.
Both sides have been accused, by the UN and human rights groups, of ethnically motivated killings.
David is convinced he and many other Nuer were targeted in Juba, while Dinkas have said the same in areas attacked by the mainly Nuer rebels.
Already existing ethnic tensions have been exacerbated dramatically by this fighting.
Peace talks in Addis Ababa are a welcome positive step, but this crisis will not be resolved easily.
The first step will be getting a cessation of hostilities that holds.
The new country had suffered through decades of conflict with Khartoum
Then comes a more difficult task still: resolving the political fractures that triggered the conflict.
President Kiir has already told the BBC he will not contemplate power sharing, while Mr Machar wants the president to resign.
Ultimately it may be possible to come to some sort of political deal, informed by whichever way the military pendulum swings.
Yet even if that eventually happens, it would not resolve South Sudan’s underlying problems.
The political class will need to govern for the people, and not for their own self-interest.
South Sudan must be weaned away from its reliance on destructive military solutions to political problems.
Above all, a comprehensive national reconciliation programme will be needed.
If all South Sudan’s many ethnicities and interest groups do not manage to forge a genuine national identity, which puts the national interest first, the country’s future looks bleak.
David, and millions of others, deserve better.
Fighting erupted in the South Sudan capital, Juba, in mid-December. It followed a political power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his ex-deputy Riek Machar. The squabble has taken on an ethnic dimension as politicians’ political bases are often ethnic.
Sudan’s arid north is mainly home to Arabic-speaking Muslims. But in South Sudan there is no dominant culture. The Dinkas and the Nuers are the largest of more than 200 ethnic groups, each with its own languages and traditional beliefs, alongside Christianity and Islam.
Both Sudan and the South are reliant on oil revenue, which accounts for 98% of South Sudan’s budget. They have fiercely disagreed over how to divide the oil wealth of the former united state – at one time production was shutdown for more than a year. Some 75% of the oil lies in the South but all the pipelines run north
The two Sudans are very different geographically. The great divide is visible even from space, as this Nasa satellite image shows. The northern states are a blanket of desert, broken only by the fertile Nile corridor. South Sudan is covered by green swathes of grassland, swamps and tropical forest.
After gaining independence in 2011, South Sudan is the world’s newest country – and one of its poorest. Figures from 2010 show some 69% of households now have access to clean water – up from 48% in 2006. However, just 2% of households have water on the premises.
Just 29% of children attend primary school in South Sudan – however this is also an improvement on the 16% recorded in 2006. About 32% of primary-age boys attend, while just 25% of girls do. Overall, 64% of children who begin primary school reach the last grade.
Almost 28% of children under the age of five in South Sudan are moderately or severely underweight – this compares with the 33% recorded in 2006. Unity state has the highest proportion of children suffering malnourishment (46%), while Central Equatoria has the lowest (17%).
3 January 2014 Last updated at 13:49
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South Sudan: Finding shelter by the Nile
By Alastair Leithead BBC News, South Sudan
Many of the displaced arrived in long boats that carried them across the River Nile from Bor to Awerial
Continue reading the main story
South Sudan strife
• China’s oil fears
• Under attack
• Bitter divide
• Clashes explained
The tens of thousands of people who fled Bor town and crossed the Nile dragging what few possessions they could carry, landed in Awerial county and found the nearest tree to set up camp.
Now, for miles along the river bank, every tree is taken. A small town has been overwhelmed by a deluge of people without food, clean water or sanitation.
There are just a handful of wells. Most people are collecting dirty, muddy river water for cleaning, cooking and drinking.
In a country where cholera is endemic, the risk of disease is high, and the two small Doctors Without Borders (MSF) clinics are already overwhelmed.
In one corner a baby lies motionless with its mother – a drip trying to rehydrate the child.
Others cry as their parents queue, waiting for a share of a dwindling supply of pills that might help save their lives.

Alastair Leithead reports from Awerial refugee camp on the banks of the Nile, now home to 75,000 people
Doctors say diarrhoea is the biggest problem at the moment and, until large supplies of water can be chlorinated, things will only deteriorate.
Food is also a challenge. But although there are probably more than 75,000 people whose supplies are running out, the queues for rations are orderly – those most in need are being provided for first.
While the international community scrambles to get aid from the capital Juba up the poor, pot-holed dirt road to Awerial, the situation in Bor is increasingly tense.
The long, deep boats that transported the people 150 at a time can no longer operate because it is too dangerous.
We met a woman and her daughter who were injured by shrapnel while trying to cross and there is much confusion surrounding what may be happening across the river.
Those in the camp say there are many more who would like to reach the safety of the western bank of the Nile.
But the rebels still control Bor and government forces appear to be mobilising, perhaps to attempt to take back the town.
There is not enough shelter, clean water and sanitation in Awerial for the number of refugees arriving
Aid agencies are trying to get supplies to Awerial but the poor roads, and fighting, are hampering efforts
Those who fled the town are predominantly from the Dinka community – the largest in South Sudan and the ethnic group of the president.
The man who is said to have attempted, or to have been planning, a coup which started this crisis is Riek Machar, who was vice-president until he was sacked in July.
He is from the second largest group, the Nuer, and what started out as a political crisis has sparked some ethnic violence.
The older people remember 1991 when Riek Machar last split from the then Sudanese rebel movement. That sparked fighting on ethnic lines which resulted in the massacre of 2,000 people in Bor.

Toby Lanzer, UN mission in S Sudan: “Situation continues to be very very volatile”
This latest political split has again provoked ethnic violence through a Nuer youth militia dubbed the “white army”.
When the militia arrived in Bor, the Dinka desperately fled across the river. Some of those we spoke to in the camp said civilians were deliberately being targeted – and there were many bodies lying in the streets.
It is hard to confirm these reports, but there is a real fear in the camp that Dinka people would be killed if they returned to a rebel-controlled Bor.
Although much of the centre is said to be abandoned, many people fled into the bush – they are in need of help but out of reach.
Tens of thousands displaced by the fighting have also taken shelter in United Nations’ compounds.
With aid flights unable to operate when there is a risk of renewed violence, the situation there is increasingly difficult.
Tonnes of aid is arriving, along with international organisations, who are trying to get help to those most in need.
The spontaneous town which has grown up along the Nile is the main focus of humanitarian efforts right now.
But more than 200,000 people have been displaced across the country, and if the fighting is to continue or intensify, more will be forced to flee their homes and become increasingly dependent on aid.
Fighting erupted in the South Sudan capital, Juba, in mid-December. It followed a political power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his ex-deputy Riek Machar. The squabble has taken on an ethnic dimension as politicians’ political bases are often ethnic.

7 January 2014 Last updated at 18:07
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Q&A: South Sudan clashes

More than 1,000 people are believed to have died in clashes in South Sudan which started as fighting between rival army factions. President Salva Kiir says it was a coup attempt, blaming soldiers loyal to former Vice-President Riek Machar for the trouble, but Mr Machar denies this.

Where is South Sudan?
South Sudan is the world’s newest nation, in the centre of Africa bordered by six countries. It is rich in oil, but following decades of civil war it is also one of the least developed regions on earth – only 15% of its citizens own a mobile phone and there very few tarmac roads in an area bigger than Spain and Portugal combined.

This makes the Nile River, which flows through regional centres, an important transport and trade route. Cattle are also central to life in South Sudan – a person’s wealth is measured by the size of their herd.
Audio slideshow: Cattle country

Why are there tensions?

Since South Sudan overwhelmingly voted to break away from Sudan in 2011, the government’s main concern has been to get oil flowing following disagreements with Khartoum – production only resumed in April.
There have been a few small armed rebellions, border clashes and deadly cattle feuds – but these have all taken place far from the capital, Juba. Signs of friction within the governing SPLM party came in July when President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka – the country’s largest group, sacked his deputy Riek Machar, who is from the second largest community, the Nuer.
Fear stalks South Sudan
No reason to party

Was there a coup plot?

It is not clear. It started as a political squabble and has escalated into ethnic violence. President Kiir believes there was and has pointed the finger of blame at Mr Machar.
He denies the accusations, but has publicly criticised Mr Kiir for failing to tackle corruption and said in July that he would challenge him for the SPLM’s leadership. Mr Machar also has a chequered history with the SPLM, leading a breakaway faction in the 1990s.
Riek Machar in profile
Salva Kiir profile

Could it descend into civil war?

That is the fear.
Almost 200,000 people are said to have fled their homes and there are reports of mass killings along ethnic lines, even though both Mr Kiir and Mr Machar have prominent supporters from the other’s community. Forces backing Mr Machar have seized the key towns of Bor and Bentiu, capital of the oil-producing Unity State.
The country is awash with guns after the decades of conflict and there is a history of ethnic tension, which politicians could whip up if they believe that could help them gain, or remain in, power.
Horror at deadly cattle vendetta

What is being done?
Following East African mediation efforts, the two sides are in Ethiopia for ceasefire talks as the first step towards resolving the conflict, but progress is slow and fighting continues to rage.
There are also fears a reduction in oil production could have repercussions on world markets. Many foreign nationals have been evacuated.

The UN, which has more than 7,500 troops on the ground and has requested reinforcements, has promised it will not abandon civilians but experts say its forces will not be able to prevent violence across such a vast territory.

23 December 2013 Last updated at 17:57
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South Sudan President Salva Kiir in profile

Continue reading the main story
South Sudan strife
• China’s oil fears
• Under attack
• Bitter divide
• Shelter by the Nile
Salva Kiir Mayardit became the first president of Africa’s newest country – South Sudan – in 2011.
His ascent to the post was the climax of a battle he had waged for some five decades for the rights of the people of South Sudan, who felt they were discriminated against by successive northern-based governments.
He waged the fight for independence mainly through the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and its armed wing, the SPLA
He assumed the leadership of the SPLM in 2005 following the sudden death of its founding leader John Garang in a helicopter crash.
Mr Garang’s death was a blow to the SPLM, coming just three months after he had negotiated a peace deal with the Khartoum government to end about three decades of conflict.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
An independent South Sudan was Mr Kiir’s long cherished dream”
End Quote
Mr Kiir was said to be more militant than Mr Garang, raising fears that the deal would collapse.
But Mr Kiir, always seen in public with his trademark cowboy hat, proved to be a deft operator, taking the post of vice-president in Sudan’s government and making sure that it upheld the peace accord signed with Mr Garang.
This led to South Sudan achieving independence some seven years later in July 2011, securing Mr Kiir a place in history as its political midwife.
Devout Christian
He had always been in the shadow of Mr Garang, but he proved that he was a leader in his own right when he won elections a year before independence by a huge margin, though there were allegations from the opposition of rigging and intimidation.
“Indeed, many political analysts and opinion leaders worldwide describe him as the Biblical Joshua who took the mantle of leadership from Moses just as the Israelites were on the verge of entering Canaan and capably established the then fugitives in the Promised Land,” the South Sudan government says on its website.
An independent South Sudan was Mr Kiir’s long cherished dream – far more so than Mr Garang, who favoured greater rights for southerners in a united Sudan.
There was jubilant scenes when independence was achieved
For Mr Kiir, the choice was always clear – either be a “second-class” citizen in Sudan or a “free person” in your own homeland, as he put in 2005.
Unlike Mr Garang, he is not an intellectual.
Mr Kiir is not a natural public speaker either, but he knows how to work the crowds and is greeted with cheers and popular affection when he speaks at rallies.
A committed Christian, he regularly speaks at the Roman Catholic cathedral in Juba, the capital.
Continue reading the main story
Salva Kiir timeline

• 1960s: First joined southern rebellion
• 1983: Founder member of SPLM
• 1990s: SPLM military leader
• 2005: Southern leader and national vice-president
• 2010: Elected president of the region of Southern Sudan
• 9 July 2011: Becomes president of newly independent South Sudan
Mr Kiir was born in 1951 in north-western South Sudan and first joined the southern rebellion in the late 1960s.
By the time President Jaafar Numeiri made peace with the rebels in 1972, Mr Kiir had become a low-ranking officer. With the accord in place, he joined the Sudanese army.
In 1983 the southern rebellion was renewed and Mr Garang was sent to quell a mutiny by troops in the south – but instead of putting down the mutineers, he joined them.
Mr Kiir then helped Mr Garang to form the SPLM and rose to lead its military wing, which now forms the army of the new state.
Mr Kiir comes from the Dinka community – the largest ethnic group in the south.
Some members of other groups, especially the Nuer, the second most numerous in the south, resent the perceived Dinka dominance.
‘Intolerant of dissent’
The two groups sometimes battled each other during the civil war, as well as fighting together against northerners.
Now, the battle appears to be continuing in the post-independence era.
After fighting broke out in Juba, in mid-December 2013, Mr Kiir accused Riek Machar, a prominent Nuer, of attempting to stage a coup.
Mr Machar, who has presidential ambitions and was sacked as South Sudan’s vice-president in July, denied this, accusing Mr Kiir of fuelling conflict to cover his own failing in government.
His allies say Mr Kiir has not made the transition from military commander to politician – and remains intolerant of dissent.
For his part, Mr Kiir has accused Mr Machar of being a “prophet of doom”, threatening stability in South Sudan.
Either way, it is the biggest challenge to his authority since he became the president of South Sudan.
His supporters are confident that he will emerge victorious, though some analysts say the conflict will probably leave democracy bruised.

16 December 2013 Last updated at 15:51
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South Sudan’s Riek Machar in profile
By Farouk Chothia BBC Africa

Continue reading the main story
South Sudan strife
• China’s oil fears
• Under attack
• Bitter divide
• Shelter by the Nile
Once married to a British aid worker, Riek Machar has been a central figure in Sudanese and South Sudanese politics for around three decades.
He is reputed to be a wily operator, switching sides on several occasions during the north-south conflict as he sought to strengthen his own position and that of his Nuer ethnic group in the murky political waters of South Sudan.
Born in 1953, he married Emma McCune in 1991 who died two years later, while pregnant, in a car accident in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
She was dubbed by some in the media as the “warlord’s wife”, a reference to Mr Machar’s role as a leading commander in the armed wing of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), which was then spearheading the war for South Sudan’s independence from the north.
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“Start Quote
He’s got a steely but also gentle look”
End Quote
After a peace deal was signed in 2005 to herald the end of the conflict and the sudden death of its leader John Garang, the SPLM appointed Mr Machar as the vice-president of the South Sudan government.
He retained the post after South Sudan became independent in 2011, in a sign of the enormous influenced he wielded in the group until his dismissal in July this year in a government reshuffle.
Coming from South Sudan’s second largest ethnic group, the gap-toothed Mr Machar’s presence in the upper echelons of power was seen as vital to promote ethnic unity with the Dinka majority.
‘Immense patience’
Recalling meeting Mr Machar in 2005, BBC Africa’s David Amanor says he had a commanding physique.
“He’s got a steely but also gentle look. He’s well-spoken and well-educated,” he says.
At the time, Mr Machar had swapped his military fatigue for an English suit, playing the role of a mediator between the Ugandan government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel movement.
The late SPLM leader John Garang (R) and Riek Machar fell out in the 1990s
He saw the LRA as a major threat, believing that it could destabilise South Sudan, where it had military camps.
Although the peace initiative failed, Mr Machar – now married to South Sudanese politician Angelina Teny – was impressive as a mediator.
“He showed immense patience – the skills of a diplomat,” recalls Mr Amanor, who covered the talks.
But critics say he also showed his ruthless side when he backed government forces in their fight against prominent South Sudan rebel leader George Athor, who was accused of waging a new “proxy war” on behalf of the Khartoum government, which it denied.
In December 2011 – some five months after independence – Mr Machar announced that Mr Athor had been killed near the Sudan-South Sudan border.
‘Prophet of doom’
For his SPLM critics, Mr Machar was becoming too powerful – and President Salva Kiir sacked him from the government in July this year without giving a clear reason.
Mr Machar responded by saying that he intended to challenge Mr Kiir for the leadership of the ruling SPLM party so that he could run for president in the 2015 election.
At the time, he called on his supporters not to resort to violence, warning that Mr Kiir would use it as a pretext to declare a state of emergency.
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Riek Machar
• Central figure in Sudanese and South Sudanese politics for around three decades
• Member of South Sudan’s second-largest ethnic group, the Nuer
• Married UK aid worker Emma McCune in 1991 – she died two years later in a car accident in Kenya while pregnant
• Was a Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) commander and led a breakaway faction for some years in the 1990s
• Soon after 2005 peace deal appointed vice-president of interim government, retaining the post after independence in 2011 until his dismissal in July 2013
Now, Mr Kiir has accused him of plotting a coup, as government forces clashed with army mutineers in the capital, Juba.
Mr Kiir denounced him as a “prophet of doom”, continuing his actions of the past – an apparent reference to the fact that he had challenged the authority of Mr Garang, the SPLM’s founding leader, in the early 1990s.
Despite high-profile mediation efforts by then-Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi and US congressmen, Mr Machar refused to sign a peace declaration with Mr Garang, who was lionised by SPLM fighters at the time.
This was seen as a major blow to efforts by many African and Western governments to present a united front against the Islamist-led government of Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir.
By then leading a breakaway rebel group, Mr Machar signed a peace accord with Mr Bashir’s government in 1997.
It gave him his first taste of state power, with his appointment as an assistant to President Bashir, but he quit not long afterwards re-launching a rebellion.
However, Mr Garang’s SPLM remained deeply suspicious of him, accusing him of receiving covert support from the Khartoum government – a charge he denied.
In 2002, he finally buried the hatchet with Mr Garang, rejoining the SPLM.
His career rose after Mr Garang’s sudden death in a 2005 helicopter crash, when Mr Kiir appointed him as vice-president of South Sudan, then a semi-autonomous region.
He held onto the post after South Sudan’s independence, until his fall-out with Mr Kiir in July.
Now, he risks arrest and even death after being accused of plotting a coup – an allegation he is bound to deny as he calculates his next move from his hideout.
It is a far cry from the days when he was a student in the UK, obtaining a PhD in philosophy and strategic planning from the University of Bradford in the mid-1980s.
It was also a time of political revolt in South Sudan, with the SPLM having just been formed to campaign against northern rule.
Mr Machar chose to join the fight – and has never looked back.

20 December 2013 Last updated at 15:10
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Profile: South Sudan army defector Peter Gadet

Continue reading the main story
South Sudan strife
• China’s oil fears
• Under attack
• Bitter divide
• Shelter by the Nile
BBC Monitoring profiles Gen Peter Gadet, said to be an ally of former South Sudan Vice-President Riek Machar in his conflict with President Salva Kiir.
Until recently, Gen Gadet commanded the Sudan People’s Liberation Army’s (SPLA) 8th Division in northern Jonglei State. Reports say he defected from it in early December however and, with troops loyal to him, attacked and took control of military installations in Bor.
Gen Gadet is believed to be a political and business ally of Mr Machar and both men are ethnic Nuers.
Any decision on his part to support Mr Machar in fighting against the South Sudan government is likely to prolong the conflict in Africa’s youngest country.
Gen Gadet has a long and chequered history with the SPLA, the armed wing of the governing Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).
He quit and re-joined the organisation several times before South Sudan seceded from Sudan, and has previously supported and been supported by Khartoum in fighting against the SPLA, particularly in Unity State, an oil-producing area which was a bastion for anti-SPLA militia during the two-decade north-south war.
Former South Sudan Vice-President Riek Machar is reportedly an ally of Gen Gadet
Gen Gadet has been described as an able military commander and a fierce fighter, as well as a charismatic leader and talented mobiliser. The Sudan Tribune website said his defections during the war “always drastically shifted the balance of power over who controlled Unity State”.
The last time he quit the SPLA, in March 2011, it was reported to have been over grievances about corruption and tribalism. President Kiir is from the Dinka community, and rivalry between the Dinka and Nuer are central to the country’s current conflict.
Before South Sudan’s independence, Gen Gadet was on the board of advisers of the Jarch Management Group, which has obtained oil concessions on large areas of land in South Sudan.

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South Sudan profile
• Overview
• Facts
• Leaders
• Media
• Timeline

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan on 9 July 2011 as the outcome of a 2005 peace deal that ended Africa’s longest-running civil war.
An overwhelming majority of South Sudanese voted in a January 2011 referendum to secede and become Africa’s first new country since Eritrea split from Ethiopia in 1993.
The new nation stands to benefit from inheriting the bulk of Sudan’s oil wealth, but continuing disputes with Khartoum, rivalries within the governing party, and a lack of economic development cloud its immediate future.
Geography
Formed from the 10 southern-most states of Sudan, South Sudan is a land of expansive grassland, swamps and tropical rain forest straddling both banks of the White Nile.
South Sudan includes the nilotic Mandari tribe, known for fishing with spears and nets on the River Nile
It is highly diverse ethnically and linguistically. Among the largest ethnic groups are the Dinka, Nuer and Shilluk.
Unlike the predominantly Muslim population of Sudan, the South Sudanese follow traditional religions, while a minority are Christians.
History
As Sudan prepared to gain independence from joint British and Egyptian rule in 1956, southern leaders accused the new authorities in Khartoum of backing out of promises to create a federal system, and of trying to impose an Islamic and Arabic identity.
In 1955, southern army officers mutinied, sparking off a civil war between the south, led by the Anya Nya guerrilla movement, and the Sudanese government.
The yes vote in the 2011 referendum on independence sparked scenes of jubilation
The conflict only ended when the Addis Ababa peace agreement of 1972 accorded the south a measure of autonomy.
But, in 1983, the south, led by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and its armed wing, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), again rose in rebellion when the Sudanese government cancelled the autonomy arrangements.
At least 1.5 million people are thought to have lost their lives and more than four million were displaced in the ensuing 22 years of guerrilla warfare. Large numbers of South Sudanese fled the fighting, either to the north or to neighbouring countries, where many remain.
The conflict finally ended with the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, under which the south was granted regional autonomy along with guaranteed representation in a national power-sharing government.
The agreement also provided for a referendum in the south on independence in 2011, in which 99% of southern Sudanese voted to split from Sudan.
Economy
Most South Sudanese sustain themselves through agriculture
Long based on subsistence agriculture, South Sudan’s economy is now highly oil-dependent. While an estimated 75% of all the former Sudan’s oil reserves are in South Sudan, the refineries and the pipeline to the Red Sea are in Sudan.
Under the 2005 accord, South Sudan received 50% of the former united Sudan’s oil proceeds, which provide the vast bulk of the country’s budget. But that arrangement was set to expire with independence.
In January 2012, the breakdown of talks on the sharing of oil revenues led South Sudan to halt oil production and halve public spending on all but salaries.
A deal in March 2013 provided for Sudan to resume pumping South Sudanese oil in May, and created a demilitarised border zone.
Despite the potential oil wealth, South Sudan is one of Africa’s least developed countries. However, the years since the 2005 peace accord ushered in an economic revival and investment in utilities and other infrastructure.
Conflicts
Alongside the oil issue, several border disputes with Sudan continue to strain ties. The main row is over border region of Abyei, where a referendum for the residents to decide whether to join south or north has been delayed over voter eligibility.
The conflict is rooted in a dispute over land between farmers of the pro-South Sudan Dinka Ngok people and cattle-herding Misseriya Arab tribesmen.
Another border conflict zone is the Nuba Mountains region of Sudan’s South Kordofan state, where violence continues between the largely Christian and pro-SPLA Nuba people and northern government forces.
Inside South Sudan, a cattle-raiding feud between rival ethnic groups in Jonglei state has left hundreds of people dead and some 100,000 displaced since independence.
Several rebel forces opposed to the SPLM-dominated government have emerged, including the South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA) of Peter Gadet and a force originally formed by a former SPLA general, the late George Athor. Juba says these forces are funded by Sudan, which denies the accusation.
In addition, tension within the SPLM over alleged Dinka domination of the government spilled over into a major conflict in December 2013, sparking fears of civil war.
South Sudan is one of the continent’s least-developed countries, in spite of its oil wealth
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