JUBA, Sudan — At least 105 people have died in violence between government forces and rebel militias in southern Sudan over the past week, an official said yesterday, raising concerns of instability ahead of the region’s independence declaration in July.
Brigadier Malaak Ayuen, the head of southern Sudan’s Army Information Department, said fighting on Saturday between a group of rebels led by Major General Gabriel Tanginye in Jonglei state and forces of the southern Sudan government led to 57 people being killed and scores being injured.
Ayuen said that five days of fighting between government forces and those loyal to another rebel chief, Peter Gatdet, in Unity state, which is northwest of Jonglei, led to the deaths of 48 people. He did not give a breakdown of the number of civilians, rebels, and the army killed in either incident.
Since its January independence referendum, southern Sudan has seen a wave of violence that has killed hundreds.
The south voted nearly unanimously to secede from the north, but there are many issues that still remain unaddressed, including the sharing of oil revenues and the status of minorities living on both sides of the border.