Clashes in South Sudan's Upper Nile State today reached at least as far north as Melut, a town located near the Paloich oil fields, which serve as the main source of revenue for South Sudan's government.

This afternoon the spokesman of SPLM-IO rebel leader Riek Machar, James Gatdet, told Radio Tamazuj that they intend to capture the oil fields in order to deny the government revenues that it has used for waging war against its own people.

He said that their forces are working with the recently defected army general Johnson Olony, whose troops control much of the west bank of the Nile in Upper Nile State. In a separate interview over the weekend, an army source confirmed that Olony has defected with large supplies of ammunition, tanks and other military supplies.

Olony's forces reportedly overran the state capital over the weekend and pursued government troops northward into Akoka County and toward Melut. A government source said that Akoka was attacked and overrun on Sunday and Monday.

On Tuesday evening, in another statement, Gatdet claimed that SPLM-IO forces had reached to Melut town. An NGO source likewise confirmed that that Melut came under attack on Tuesday, without being able to provide many details about the fighting.

UNMISS' Public Information Office did not respond to a request for information today about the situation in Melut, where the peacekeeping mission has a military base. Canada's Ambassador in South Sudan Nicholas Coghlan stated on the online social media site Twitter that he received reports that two displaced people were killed late today in crossfire in Melut.

Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday attempted to contact South Sudan's petroleum ministry for comment but they were not available.

Update 20/5/2015, 12:49am:

UNMISS reported military movements in the area of Melut, in Upper Nile State, according to Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. In a press statement, Haq said: "three explosions were heard approximately 40 kilometres from the Mission’s base. 270 displaced persons have arrived at the Mission’s protection site in Melut this morning, joining the thousand civilians already there, and another 250 to 350 civilians are also sheltering at a newly allocated protection area adjacent to the Mission’s base."