{"id":27342,"date":"2016-08-01T01:52:43","date_gmt":"2016-08-01T01:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/machar-fighters-threaten-to-attack-juba-as-fresh\/"},"modified":"2016-08-01T01:52:31","modified_gmt":"2016-08-01T01:52:31","slug":"machar-fighters-threaten-to-attack-juba-as-fresh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/machar-fighters-threaten-to-attack-juba-as-fresh\/","title":{"rendered":"Machar fighters threaten to attack Juba as fresh fighting breaks out"},"content":{"rendered":"

{President Kiir\u2019s government has ruled out the threats, saying Mr Machar\u2019s group is incapable of attacking Juba.}<\/p>\n

Forces loyal to embattled South Sudan First vice president Riek Machar on Sunday warned they will attack Juba if a third force is not deployed in South Sudan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are waiting for orders from the commander-in-chief to give orders and we move on Juba,\u201d said Mr James Gadet, Mr Machar\u2019s spokesperson.<\/p>\n

He said fighting was going on in the north-west of Juba and also claimed that the Opposition (SPLA-IO) had captured a military bases in Katigir.<\/p>\n

Mr Gadet also said government forces loyal to President Salva Kiir had carried out aerial bombardment of their bases in Lanya County but the ground attacks had been repulsed.<\/p>\n

He also added that in the last one week, their forces had captured 21 military trucks from government soldiers.<\/p>\n

Mr Gadet also claimed that Mr Machar is \u201caround Juba\u201d despite media reports that he had fled.<\/p>\n

However, President Kiir\u2019s spokesperson, Mr Ateny wek Ateny, dismissed threats by Mr Machar group, saying they have no capacity to attack Juba.<\/p>\n

\u201cMachar group has no capacity to attack Juba. If it was possible for them, they would have done so long time ago,\u201d Mr Ateny told Daily Monitor on phone.<\/p>\n

He added that Dr Machar\u2019s intention is to capture power by force but \u201che has no capacity\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Ateny also said Mr Machar was hiding in the jungles neighbouring DR Congo and Central African Republic.<\/p>\n

He further stated that government is committed to the implement of the agreement.<\/p>\n

President Kiir and rebel leader Machar had signed a peace agreement in August year under which Machar was once again made Vice President.<\/p>\n

However, both sides have been hurling accusations against each other over the fresh fighting and failure to implement the Addis Ababa Peace Accord.<\/p>\n

Last week, Mr Taban Deng Gai, who led the peace negotiations on behalf of the SPLA IO, was sworn in South Sudan\u2019s First vice president by President Kiir, temporarily replacing Mr Machar.<\/p>\n

Mr Taban, who has been serving as minister of Mining in the National Unity government, had been sacked by his boss, Dr Machar, a day earlier.<\/p>\n

This happened after Dr Machar had failed to meet an ultimatum issued by President Kiir, asking him to return to Juba for both parties to work together towards rebuilding peace.<\/p>\n

Mr Machar fled Juba, about two weeks ago, after renewed fighting broke out on July 8.<\/p>\n

Dr Machar, who had remained silent about his replacement for a while, last week told Al-jaazera that the appointment of his former minister Taban was \u201cillegal and violated the Peace agreement\u201d.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Machar group will Monday address a press conference in Addis Ababa on the unfolding events in Africa\u2019s youngest nation.<\/p>\n

In Juba, a source told this newspaper that the situation is still \u201ccalm\u201d but the residents are living under fear following Mr Machar\u2019s replacement.<\/p>\n

The country descended into conflict in December 2013 after President Kiir sacked Mr Machar accusing him of plotting a coup.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Security Council has extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) for two weeks.<\/p>\n

This is to allow time for its membership to consider options on adapting the operation\u2019s mandate amid renewed violence in the country<\/p>\n

According to a statement posted on the UNMISS website on July 29, its mandate was expected to expire on Sunday but the UN Security Council unanimously approved a short extension \u2013 through August 12.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Council\u2019s action comes as deadly clashes between rival factions loyal to President Salva Kiir and First Vice-President Riek Machar have, since early July, sent thousands of civilians fleeing the capital, Juba. UNMISS compounds and civilian protection sites have been attacked,\u201d the statement read in part.<\/p>\n

The same statement also indicated that thousands of South Sudanese, mostly women and children, have crossed into Uganda since fighting erupted, including an estimated 8,337 refugees on July 21, setting a single-day record since the influx began in 2016.<\/p>\n

UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon urged calm on all sides and called on the leaders to do everything in their power to de-escalate the hostilities.<\/p>\n

\"Fresh<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{President Kiir\u2019s government has ruled out the threats, saying Mr Machar\u2019s group is incapable of attacking Juba.} Forces loyal to embattled South Sudan First vice president Riek Machar on Sunday warned they will attack Juba if a third force is not deployed in South Sudan. \u201cWe are waiting for orders from the commander-in-chief to give […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[100],"byline":[2461],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-27342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-africa","byline-daily-nation"],"bylines":[{"id":2461,"name":"Daily Nation","slug":"daily-nation","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":2461,"name":"Daily Nation","slug":"daily-nation","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27342\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27342"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=27342"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=27342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}