South Sudan President Says Coup Has Been Repulsed

A rebellion is spreading in South Sudan in the aftermath of a referendum held in Jan. 2011. The outcome of the vote lead to the break-up of Africa's largest geographic nation-state. The independence of the south took place on July 9, 2011., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

South Sudan president says coup has been repulsed

By CHARLTON DOKI and RODNEY MUHUMUZA | Posted: Monday, December 16, 2013 4:46 am

Soldiers loyal to a former vice president attempted to overthrow the government of South Sudan, the country's president said Monday, as sporadic fighting between factions of the military gripped the capital in the latest violence to hit the world's youngest nation.

Flanked by government officials, President Salva Kiir _who put on fatigues with an army general's epaulets _ said in a televised address to the nation that the military had foiled a coup orchestrated by "a group of soldiers allied with the former vice president."

The soldiers had attacked the South Sudanese military headquarters near Juba University late Sunday, sparking sporadic clashes that continued Monday, he said.

"The attackers went and (the) armed forces are pursuing them," Kiir said Monday. "I promise you today that justice will prevail."

The government is now "in full control of the military situation" in Juba, he said, ordering a dawn-to-dusk curfew in the city.

Details of the attempted coup remained sketchy, but South Sudanese Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin told The Associated Press Monday that troops within the main army base raided the weapons store in Juba but were repulsed. Some politicians had since been arrested, he said, but could not confirm if former Vice President Riek Machar _who he said led the attempted coup _was among those in detention. Benjamin said the coup was plotted by "disgruntled" soldiers and politicians led by Machar.

An Associated Press reporter saw heavily armed soldiers patrolling the streets of Juba Monday amid the gunfire emerging from the city's main army barracks. The streets were largely empty of civilians, with most Juba residents staying indoors. EgyptAir reported that it had cancelled its flight to Juba on Monday, saying the airport there was closed.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan on Monday reported the sound of mortar and heavy machine-gun fire, saying hundreds of civilians had sought refuge inside U.N. facilities.

Tension had been mounting in South Sudan since Kiir fired Machar as his deputy in July.

Machar, who has expressed a willingness to contest the presidency in 2015, said after he was fired that if the country is to be united it cannot tolerate a "one man's rule or it cannot tolerate dictatorship." His ouster, part of a wider dismissal of the entire Cabinet by Kiir, had followed reports of a power struggle within the ruling party. At the time, the United States and the European Union urged calm amid fears the dismissals could spark political upheaval in the country.

While Kiir is leader of the ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement party, many of the dismissed ministers, including Machar, were key figures in the rebel movement that fought a decades-long war against Sudan that led to South Sudan's independence in 2011. Machar, a deputy chairman of the ruling party, is one of the country's most influential politicians.

The local Sudan Tribune newspaper reported on its website that military clashes erupted late Sunday between members of the presidential guard in fighting that seemed to pit soldiers from Kiir's Dinka tribe against those from the Nuer tribe of Machar.

In a message to American citizens Monday, the U.S. Embassy in Juba said it had received "reports from multiple reliable sources of ongoing security incidents and sporadic gunfire in multiple locations" across Juba.

"The U.S. Embassy has not been able to confirm that gunfire and insecurity have fully ceased," the message said. "The embassy recommends that all U.S. citizens exercise extra caution at all times. The U.S. Embassy will continue to closely monitor the security environment in South Sudan, with particular attention to Juba city and its immediate surroundings, and will advise U.S. citizens further if the security situation changes."

Hilde Johnson, special representative of the United Nations secretary-general for South Sudan, said in a statement that the U.N. mission in Juba was "deeply concerned" over the fighting that broke out late Sunday and which continued Monday.

"As the Special Representative of the Secretary General I urge all parties in the fighting to cease hostilities immediately and exercise restraint," the statement sad. "I have been in touch regularly with the key leaders, including at the highest levels to call for calm."

South Sudan has experienced bouts of ethnic violence, especially in rural Jonglei state, since the country peacefully broke away from Sudan after a brutal civil war.
___
Muhumuza contributed from Kampala, Uganda. Associated Press reporters Tom Odula in Nairobi, Kenya, and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report.