Post date: Dec 24, 2013 7:26:33 PM
Strategic key town of Bor retaken by forces royal to South Sudan government, the president says.
SOUTH SUDAN (DECEMBER 24, 2013) (REUTERS) - South Sudan President Salva Kiir said on Tuesday (December 24) government troops have taken control of the Jonglei state capital Bor, a key town which rebels loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar seized last week.
"The loyal forces of this government have taken Bor and they are now clearing whatever pockets that around Bor," Kiir told journalists in national capital Juba.The conflict in South Sudan erupted in Juba on December 15 but has spread to oil-producing regions and beyond, rapidly dividing the two-year-old nation on ethnic lines.
Western powers and east African states, keen to prevent more chaos in the fragile region, have tried to mediate between Kiir, a Dinka, and rebel leader Machar, a Nuer.
Both men say the conflict is political, not tribal, but 40,000 people have sought refuge in the bases of U.N. peacekeepers amid widespread fears of ethnic killings.