Juba [Sudan], December 28: At least 60 people have been killed, many of them women and children, in conflict in the Greater Pibor Administrative Area in the east of South Sudan, the authorities in Juba reported on Tuesday.
A further 20 people had been injured since Sunday in an attack by hundreds of fighters belonging to a youth militia in the state of Jonglei in Greater Pibor, a spokesman for the regional parliament told dpa. The conflict was continuing, he said.
The spokesman said that several villages near the city of Pibor, some 350 kilometres north-east of the capital of Juba, had been plundered and set fire to, with the villagers abducted and their livestock stolen. He said the attackers were armed with machine guns.
Abraham Kelang Jiji, information minister for the administrative area, said that dozens of villagers had spent Christmas hiding in the bush with nothing to eat.
He described the attack as "barbaric."
Violence has erupted repeatedly over recent weeks in the states of Jonglei and Upper Nile in the east of the country. According to the United Nations, more than 9,100 people have been displaced in the recent escalation.
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), bringing together eight countries in the Horn of Africa and East Africa, puts the number of refugees since mid-November at 50,000.
Independent since 2011, South Sudan has for two years been under a fragile transitional government led by President SalvaKiirMayardit and former rebel leader RiekMachar.
A civil war erupted in 2013, in which thousands died and millions fled. Armed groups continue to battle for influence in the oil-rich country, despite a peace agreement.
Source: Qatar Tribune