Exclusive: Satellite Images Show City Destroyed in South Sudan Conflict -- Time
Evidence of devastation in the oil city of Malakal puts an already shaky ceasefire in jeopardy.
South Sudan’s Jan. 23 ceasefire was supposed to put an end to more than a month of violence that killed roughly 10,000 people, displaced more than 800,000 others, and threatened to unravel the fragile social fabric of a fledgling state that has been independent for just 31 months. The warring parties — the government of President Salva Kiir and rebel groups loosely arrayed behind sacked former vice president Riek Machar — agreed in neighboring Ethiopia to a truce. New rounds of talks were set to restore order to the world’s newest country.
But there is no peace in Malakal, a key city in an oil-producing region in the country’s northeast. The city has borne the brunt of violence that has persisted across the country, putting the fate of the truce in jeopardy. Last week – despite a ceasefire that both sides have been accused of violating – rebel forces attacked the city and expelled government forces. United Nations peacekeepers who patrolled the streets after the battle reported on Monday finding more than 100 bodies scattered along the road and said the city was looted and burned. South Sudan’s Interior Minister deemed the rebel violence “a flagrant violation of the cessation of hostilities agreement signed by both sides.”
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Update: Malakal Deserted, Destroyed in New South Sudan Fighting -- Voice of America
My Comment: There is no ceasefire in South Sudan .... this is ethnic warfare and cleansing on a massive scale.
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