South Sudanese rebel fighters killed four government soldiers and wounded 14 others in an attack on the northeastern town of Waat, a government spokesman said on Monday.
Dickson Gatluak Jock, spokesman for Vice President Taban Deng Gai, said the soldiers were attacked on Sunday as the rebels attempted to take the strategic town.
“Their (the rebels) main aim… is to regain full control of the strategic town of Waat from our forces before the revitalization process kicks off in Addis Ababa,” Reuters quotes him to say, adding that the situation remained tense.
South Sudan has been at war since December 2013, following President Salva Kiir’s accusations that his then-deputy Riek Machar was plotting a coup against his rule. Machar denied the allegations but then went on to mobilize a rebel force to fight the government.
A peace deal signed in 2015 has continuously violated by both factions.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands and forced millions others to flee their homes.
The United Nations earlier this year ranked the country as Africa’s biggest refugee crisis, coming third worldwide after Syria and Afghanistan.
The world agency, international community and regional leaders have called upon the South Sudanese leaders to engage in talks to end the fighting.
The government kick-started a peace process earlier this year, though Machar remains holed up in South Africa where he went to seek medical treatment after clashes in the capital Juba in July 2016.
