This Week in South Sudan – Week 1

Tuesday 2 January

• The Troika (the US, the UK and Norway) called on the armed factions to end all military operations, while threatening to impose individual or group sanctions on those violating the December 2017 cessation of hostility agreement.
• Radio Tamazuj Factbox: “Protection camp populations in South Sudan”

Wednesday 3 January

• The SPLA claims opposition attacks has killed 34 people in the first three days of 2018.
• Archivists fear that thousands of historical documents detailing South Sudan’s past can be lost and destroyed while waiting for a national archive to be built.
• According to the SPLA, 1850 former SPLA (IO) and Arrow Boys fighters, who surrendered to the government in 2016, have been integrated into regular SPLA forces in Yambio.
• The Guardian, op-ed on the South Sudanese youth-diaspora in Australia: “As South Sudanese community leaders we must give our youth a sense of belonging”

Thursday 4 January

• Associates of the exiled and former SPLA chief of staff, Paul Malong have reportedly joined the opposition group, the South Sudan Patriotic Army (SSPA) in Northern Bahr el Ghazal. Malong later denied he influenced the rebellion, or that he is mobilizing for war as President Kiir claim.

Friday 5 January

• Reported fighting between government troops and opposition forces in several places in Central Equatoria State, including an attack on the SPLA-controlled Kapuri military post west of Juba by SPLA(IO) allied forces. The SPLA (IO) later distanced itself from the latter attack.
• The US Embassy in Juba imposed a stricter, temporary curfew policy for its personnel, in response to the reported fighting on the outskirts of Juba.
• The Government of South Sudan requested major Internet service providers to shutdown 3G network temporarily across the country over ‘security concerns’.

Monday 8 January

• President Kiir demanded that the exiled and former SPLA chief of staff, Paul Malong return to South Sudan. According to Kiir, Malong has to prove he did not incite his supporters to rebel -as allegedly proven by a leaked audiotape, or be branded a rebel himself.