Nearly thirty thousand people took shelter on Thursday under the protection of United Nations peacekeepers on the outskirts of South Sudan's northern town Malakal as intermittent clashes between different government units and allied militias continued inside the city for a third day.

Malakal resident Peter Deng, speaking to Radio Tamazuj this afternoon from inside the Malakal 'Protection of Civilians (PoC)' camp, said that many people who had been inside the town fled to the UN PoC site on the outskirts of the town.

“It's a lot of people though I can't estimate the total number. They are civilians though earlier there were also soldiers of the army – SPLA – who came inside,” he said, referring to soldiers who surrendered their weapons to the UN peacekeepers after deserting their units.

Peter was speaking at about 3:15 p.m. today. He said there had been clashes earlier in the day but since had stopped: “We don't know what exactly is happening outside in the town but there are sounds of fire and clashes between the army – in the army itself... It was going on before but now it stopped.”

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) meanwhile confirmed that about 1,500 people arrived at the Protection Site since the clashes started Tuesday night, in addition to about 26,000 people who were already at the UN site prior to the latest fighting, owing to earlier clashes.

Speaking to Radio Miraya, UNMISS acting spokesman Joe Contreras also confirmed that some SPLA soldiers gave up their weapons and uniforms and went to the UN base for safety.

“Nineteen (19) SPLA soldiers approached the compound yesterday and agreed to be disarmed in exchange for being granted admittance into our facility there. We have done this before in certain situations where SPLA troops have agreed to disarm and remove their uniforms in exchange for receiving protection because once they have done that, they can be regarded as civilians,” Contreras said.

South Sudan's ruling party today described the fighting in Malakal as a problem “between soldiers” that began as a dispute between different bodyguards. Speaking for the SPLM Political Bureau after an extraordinary session, Acting Secretary-General Anne Itto said, “What started between a couple of soldiers grew up to a full-fledged insecurity that has covered most of the city.... it has nothing to do with the ordinary community members of Shilluk, Dinka and Nuer.”

Meanwhile, a source in Renk said that SPLA has moved more troops and equipment from there including tanks and artillery south toward Malakal.

Humanitarian flights to the city both yesterday and today were cancelled.

Another civilian in Malakal, Manasseh Momo, speaking to Radio Tamazuj also from inside the UN protection site at about 11:00 a.m., said a large number of citizens fled to the UN base since yesterday including some soldiers who surrendered their belongings to the UN.

“Yesterday the fighting stopped at night, but I can not hear gunshots now, but the PoC is calm,” he said.

MSF-Spain, a medical aid group running a clinic inside the Protection Site, said that it received six patients injured in the fighting. But it halted activities outside the UN-protected camp owing to insecurity, according to the aid group's country representative. 

Inside Malakal itself, a government official speaking to Radio Tamazuj by phone from the SPLA barracks at about noon said that the town was being shelled by forces commanded by Johnson Olony.

Acting State Minister of Information Gatluak Liphos Dieu indicated Olony’s forces stationed at the airport were shelling the town randomly. “They are just shelling the town with heavy artilleries, they are shooting randomly now. That’s why we went to the military barracks because it far away a little bit from where they are,” he explained.

He said that Olony's forces had fought with 'Abu Shouk', 'Mazloum' and 'Khor Fulus' militias and the governor's bodyguards but not with SPLA forces, which he said had not yet responded to the attacks. Later in the day, however, in another interview at about 4:30 p.m., Gatluak said SPLA troops repulsed Olony's forces and drove them from the town.

He downplayed the role played by the Dinka militias in the fighting including the one calling itself 'Abu Shouk,' the name of a former SPLA Battalion. Though Abu Shouk's headquarters in Malakal was attacked, he said, only a few of the fighters are in the area and SPLA since took control of the situation. “Since before yesterday they [Olony's forces] have just been attacking anybody – they attacked the positions of SPLA, they attacked the positions of Abu Shouk, anybody. But now there are not many Abu Shouk... in the city. They are all in Baliet... and areas around there,” said the Information Minister.

Related: 

Help for confused observers: 10 facts on the Malakal fighting