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                US Urges Calm After New Fighting in South Sudan

   by Lou Lorscheider

   The U.S. State Department on Saturday issued an urgent call for calm in
   South Sudan, after fighting between rival factions in the capital,
   Juba, killed more than 100 people on the eve of the fifth anniversary
   of the country's independence.

   The U.S. statement urges fighters loyal to President Salva Kiir and
   those backing his rival, current First Vice President Riek Machar, to
   "disengage and cease fighting."

   Gunfire first erupted late Thursday, when five soldiers backing the
   president were killed in a clash with Machar loyalists at a security
   checkpoint near a medical clinic in the city.

   Hours later, as the two officials met at the presidential palace,
   United Nations observers reported heavy gunfire and shelling near an
   encampment in the city for internal refugees. Other witnesses reported
   gunfire across much of the area.

   Neither Kiir nor Machar could initially explain the latest fighting,
   but they urged their followers to remain calm.

   Africa's newest nation is recovering from a civil war, fought along
   ethnic lines, that began in December 2013 after Kiir fired Machar as
   vice president.  A peace deal late last year ended the fighting, and
   another agreement in April led to the formation of a transitional unity
   government and to Machar's reinstatement as vice president.

   However, Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and Machar, a Nuer tribesman, have yet
   to integrate their forces.

   Thursday's and Friday's fighting was the first major outbreak of
   violence since Machar was reappointed vice president.

   The World Food Program says 4.8 million South Sudanese are facing
   severe food shortages this year, with parts of the impoverished country
   on the brink of famine.  It also says fighting has driven 2.4 million
   residents from their homes, while hundreds of thousands of others have
   fled the country as refugees.

   With the country's fragile economy in shambles, monitors predict as
   many as 1 million South Sudanese will have fled the country by the end
   of the year.
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   uba-south-sudan/3410768.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/us-urges-calm-after-new-fighting-in-juba-south-sudan/3410768.html