The capital of Upper Nile State was overrun this morning by opposition fighters, the third time the town has fallen since the crisis began in South Sudan in mid December.
An official in the Upper Nile State government who fled Malakal this morning across the river to Lelo on the west bank of the Nile, said that the city came under attack “before we were awake.”
Col. Philip Aguer, the spokesman of the army, likewise confirmed that the attack occurred in the morning starting between 7:00 and 8:00. Malakal “came under heavy attack by forces of Riek Macahr, and the attack came from three directions: From the southern part of the town, the northern part of the town and from the eastern part, that was heading to the center of Malakal town,” he said.
The state government source in Lelo told Radio Tamazuj that SPLA fighters still loyal to the government fled to the north of the city or across the Nile River to the west. Speaking early Tuesday evening, he added that fighting was still ongoing in the area of the airport north of the town.
Col. Aguer, for his part, explained, “SPLA has been fighting these forces since morning. At the moment, the force that attacked from the eastern part managed to have some pocket that penetrated into the center of the town. SPLA is now controlling the southern sector of the town and the northern sector of the town. And the SPLA forces are preparing to flush out this pocket from the town.”
Another source stated that government troops intend to return to the city in the morning because of indications that opposition fighters have begun to withdraw. This expectation was confirmed by the army spokesman who stated, “We are sure by the night they will leaving with the booties or properties from the center where they are, and we are sure by tomorrow SPLA will be in control of Malakal after they have taken away whatever they wanted.”
Opposition sources also claimed control over the city on Tuesday. The motive of the attack was not made explicit by their political leadership. According to Aguer, “They were invited to converge on Malakal with the purpose to capture Malakal and the oil field, to control the oil field, and maybe the rest of the deals we don’t know what they will do with it.”
He described the attacking force as a ‘white army’ of civilians mobilized in Ulang, Nasser and Maiwut of Upper Nile State, and Ayod and northern Waat counties in Jonglei State.
Presidential spokesman Ateny Wek, speaking at a press conference in Juba this afternoon, explained the motive of the opposition forces in relation to the political talks ongoing in Ethiopia: “As peace agreement is being negotiated in Addis Ababa, because they don’t have any major town in their hand, with the exception of this small pockets outside there in the tribal areas, maybe they are trying to capture a town like Malakal so that they top up their seat in the negotiations.”
Related: ‘Malakal in the shadow of death’ (29 Jan.)