JUBA: Rebels in South Sudan rejected UN reports they had massacred hundreds of civilians as “lies” yesterday, as they wrested another town from government troops in a worsening civil war.
The rebels seized the town of Bentiu last week, unleashing two days of ethnic slaughter as they hunted down civilians sheltering in mosques, churches and a hospital, butchering dozens on the roadside, according to the United Nations.
But rebel spokesman Lul Ruai Koang praised the “gallant forces” of the insurgents, who the UN said took to the radio to urge men to rape women from the opposition ethnic group and drive out rivals from the town.
“The government forces and their allies committed these heinous crimes while retreating,” Koang said, adding that the rebel offensive targeting oil fields was continuing.
However, the UN said the killings continued for almost two days after the rebels issued a statement boasting of victory in Bentiu, a time when Koang previously said gunmen were “mopping and cleaning up” in the town.
Bentiu is the capital of the key oil-producing state of Unity.
Government forces said they have been forced to pull out of another major settlement nearby amid furious rebel attacks.
South Sudan’s army has been fighting rebels loyal to sacked vice president Riek Machar since the unrest broke out more than four months ago.
The conflict has taken on an ethnic dimension, pitting President Salva Kiir’s Dinka tribe against militia forces from Machar’s Nuer people.
“The battles have been very heavy in Unity state,” army spokesman Philip Aguer told AFP, adding that troops made a “tactical withdrawal” from the town of Mayom, a strategic local centre made up of dusty roads and thatch huts, some 50km west of Bentiu.
AFP
