JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN, April 17, 2016
Fresh fighting has been reported between government forces and opposition rebels in South Sudan.
The fresh clashes come just ahead of the much waited arrival of former rebel leader Riek Machar in Juba.
According to a spokesman for the SPLA-In-Opposition (SPLA IO), the government forces confirmed that the rebels attacked their bases in Unity state’s Rubkona County.
The government acknowledged that fighting took place on Wednesday and Thursday but blamed the rebels for the clashes.
"The government has launched offenses in our defensive position in Rubkona County in a certain area called Turkei," SPLA IO deputy spokesman Major Dickson Gatluak.
"They also attacked our defense position in Waak and several areas around the northern part of Unity state."
Gatluak said the government and its allied militias repeatedly had violated the cease-fire as stipulated in the August 2015 peace agreement.
In a rejoinder, the Army spokesman Brigadier General Lul Ruai Koang acknowledged the two warring sides exchanged fire, but said the government forces were performing what he called its "usual role" of protecting people and their property.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after decades of civil war.
Fresh clashes erupted in December 2013, after President Salva Kiir’s dismissal of his then-deputy, Machar.
Machar, who is the first vice president-designate, fled South Sudan after being accused by Kiir of plotting a coup against his government.
Machar is due to arrive in the capital, Juba, on Monday.
