Heavy fighting erupted in South Sudan’s capital on Sunday as former rebels and government soldiers exchanged fire two days after gun battles left at least 150 fighters dead.
“Gunshots, heavily armed exchange UN House area once again,” the UN Mission in South Sudan said on Twitter, later adding the fighting was “relentless”. Fighting was heard in several other parts of the city throughout the day, including the tinderbox Gudele neighbourhood -- where rebel leader turned vice president Riek Machar is headquartered -- and the central Tongping area near the international airport, with gunfire intensifying and subsiding at different times. Regional airline Kenya Airways suspended flights to Juba, citing the “uncertain security situation”, while the US embassy in Juba warned its citizens to stay indoors.
“The situation in Juba has significantly deteriorated.
There is serious ongoing fighting between government and opposition forces, including near the airport, UNMISS locations, Jebel and elsewhere throughout Juba,” the embassy posted on its Facebook page.
Sunday’s fighting began on the city’s western outskirts where both former rebels and government soldiers have bases at the foot of the Jebel Kujur mountain. The nearby UN House site is home to roughly 28,000 people previously uprooted by the war and living in flimsy makeshift houses. Rounds had landed inside the UN camp, wounding some civilians.