Violence escalates in South Sudan as a government commissioner is killed

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — A government-appointed county commissioner in an opposition stronghold in South Sudan’s oil-rich Jonglei State was “assassinated” by opposition forces in renewed violence, the government confirmed late Monday.

Fighting in Jonglei has intensified in recent days, with an unknown number of casualties. The strategic county of Akobo has seen the appointment of both government-backed and opposition-backed county commissioners.

James Kueth Makuach, the government-appointed commissioner, was killed on Sunday when opposition fighters launched an assault on Walgak, a remote area in Akobo West, according to officials from both sides.

Makuach defected to President Salva Kiir’s ruling party in April after being removed by the opposition’s acting leadership earlier this year.

The government then appointed him as county commissioner, ignoring a 2018 peace agreement that assigns that Akobo County position to Riek Machar’s opposition party. Machar remains in prison and faces treason charges.

The ruling party in a statement said it “strongly condemns the brutal killing” of the commissioner and would hold an emergency session to discuss it.

The opposition-appointed governor, John Wiyual Lul, said opposition fighters briefly seized the area before withdrawing after government reinforcements arrived. He said senior army officers were among those killed.

Jonglei State government spokesperson Nyamar Lony Thichiot told The Associated Press late Monday that casualty figures remained unclear.

The Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission, formed to monitor South Sudan's peace process, on Monday said the renewed violence undermines the implementation of the 2018 peace deal ending civil war and threatens the safety of civilians.

Fighting in Akobo County broke out in March when opposition forces targeted a government base. The United Nations in June withdrew its peacekeepers from a base established to help protect civilians.

Civil society leaders warned that political tensions are increasingly spilling onto the battlefield again.

“This is an unfortunate relapse into violence and a clear threat to civilians, their property and humanitarian operations,” Juba-based civil society activist Bol Deng Bol said. Another activist, Edmond Yakani, urged the opposition and the government to fully respect the permanent ceasefire.

South Sudan is scheduled to hold long-delayed elections on Dec. 22, its first since independence from Sudan in 2011.