South Sudan’s army has dismissed claims that it had lost control of the border town of Morobo located about 200 kilometers to the southwest of the capital Juba.
Former first vice president Riek Machar’s spokesman James Gatdek Dak had earlier claimed that the SPLA-IO had taken control of Morobo, near Yei town which has been affected by renewed fighting between government troops and Machar-led forces.
Xinhua news agency reports South Sudan army’s spokesman Lul Ruai Koang to say that there had been unrest in Morobo days ago but calm had been restored.
“About three days ago there were two rival youth groups who had social disagreements and they started fighting; the police fired some shots. The situation returned to calm and this was picked up by the SPLA-IO (Machar’s force) to claim control over Morobo,” Koang said.
South Sudan in July experienced renewed fighting between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those loyal to Riek Machar, forcing the former first vice president to flee the capital with his troops.
The United Nations last week warned that thousands of people had been trapped in Yei as they had no means to flee the violence.
The recent fighting has raised concerns of a possible return to civil war by the world’s youngest nation.
