South Sudan’s army has announced a major military operation against the rebels after losing territory in recent weeks, raising concerns about the safety of civilians.
Military spokesperson Lulu Luai Koan said in a statement on Sunday that civilians were ordered to evacuate immediately from three counties in Jonglei province and Operation Enduring Peace was being launched. He ordered aid groups to withdraw within 48 hours.
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Koan told The Associated Press on Monday that the operation aims to retake towns recently captured by rebels and “restore law and order.”
“This country is not at war,” Information Minister Atenyi Wek Atenyi told reporters in Juba on Tuesday. “We are only blocking the progress” of the rebels, he said.
But the incident came just days after a senior military commander was filmed urging his troops to kill civilians and destroy property during the Jonglei offensive, drawing condemnation from the United Nations and elsewhere.
“The facts are no longer in dispute: South Sudan is back at war,” said Alan Boswell, Horn of Africa project director at the International Crisis Group. “This is incredibly tragic for a country that is only getting weaker and poorer.”
Here’s what you need to know about the resurgence of violence in South Sudan.
Government battlefield losses
In early December, a coalition of rebels captured a series of government outposts in central Jonglei, a Nuer stronghold and rebel stronghold.
Some of these forces are loyal to opposition leader Riek Machar, while others consider themselves members of the Nuer ethnic militia known as the White Army. White combatants have historically fought alongside Machar, but consider themselves a separate group.
Machar, a Nuer ethnic group, became the most senior of five vice presidents under a 2018 peace deal that ended fighting between his army and forces loyal to President Salva Kiir from the country’s largest Dinka ethnic group.
The five-year civil war, which has been largely along ethnic lines, has left an estimated 400,000 people dead.
Government number two suspended
Violence has flared up over the past year, with sporadic fighting occurring.
Machar was suspended as South Sudan’s number two last year after White warplanes overran a military post in the town of Nasir. He now faces treason and other charges over the attack, which authorities say Machar helped orchestrate. But Machar’s allies and some international observers say the charges are politically motivated. He remains under house arrest while his trial progresses slowly in the capital, Juba.
Machar’s trial is widely seen as a violation of the 2018 peace agreement. But Kiir and his allies insist the deal is still being implemented, pointing to the presence of opposition forces within the national unity government.
Forces loyal to Machar declared the deal invalid and have since ratcheted up pressure on the military by seizing weapons depots and launching hit-and-run attacks on government positions. Analysts say the government is relying heavily on airstrikes to quell the rebellion, which is gaining momentum in several states.
After capturing the government outpost of Pajut in Jonley on January 16, the rebels threatened to advance towards Juba. The government responded by concentrating its fighters in nearby Poktapu, and thousands of Ugandan soldiers are guarding Juba.
Army chief Paul Nunn gave troops a week to “quell the insurgency” in Jonglei.
“I won’t spare my life”
On Saturday, the day before the military announced the attack, a senior military commander was filmed urging the military to kill all civilians and destroy property during an operation in Jonglei. It is not clear who shot the video, which was shared on social media.
“Don’t spare your life,” General Johnson Olonyi told his troops in Duc County, near Pajut. “When we get there, spare the old people, spare the chickens, spare the house and other things.”
In South Sudan, armed groups, including the military, have been repeatedly implicated in abuse of civilians, including sexual violence and forced recruitment.
Mr Olonyi’s comments were particularly offensive and caused concern. “We are shocked, shaken and surprised,” said prominent civic leader Edmund Yakani.
Yakani said his words showed that government forces were “empowered to commit atrocities, crimes against humanity and potentially even genocide.”
The United Nations Human Rights Council in South Sudan expressed “grave alarm” over developments that “the risk of large-scale violence against civilians has significantly increased.”
Machar’s political group said in a statement that Olonyi’s words were “early signs of genocidal intent.”
Government spokesperson Atenyi Wek Atenyi told The Associated Press that Olonyi’s comments were “unnecessary” and a “gaffe.”
However, he said that while it was possible that Olonyi was “trying to boost the morale of his troops”, his words were not indicative of government policy.
Olonyi, who was appointed deputy chief of the defense force for mobilization and disarmament a year ago, also heads a militia known as Agwerek of the Silk tribe, which agreed to integrate into the military last year.
The deployment of troops by the Oroni into Nuer communities is controversial, as there are separate conflicts between the Silk and Nuer communities. In 2022, White military jets razed the village of Cirque and evacuated thousands of civilians before the government intervened with attack helicopters.
Oloni forces also participated in military operations in other Nuer communities last year.
Sending him to Jonglei is “inflammatory,” said Joshua Craze, an independent analyst and writer on South Sudan. “His presence in the state is a propaganda gift to the rebel mobilization efforts.”
