Andrea Mayar Achor, the newly appointed governor of Wau State, has welcomed his appointment and appealed for calm after the army declared a unilateral restriction on movement within the town before clashing with an armed men attempting to take control of the town yesterday.

Multiple eyewitnesses confirm reports of looting, civilian casualties and mass displacement, though the extent of it is not yet clear.

The identity of the group with which the army fought yesterday also remains unclear. The local command of the Sudan People’s Liberation army has accused a group of loyal to politicians allied to the First Vice President Riek Machar as being behind the attack.

The new governor, reached on Saturday for comment on the situation said, “Yes, I confirm and I have been appointed by the president but have nothing to say now. I just want to accept the appointment and appeal to everyone that we report with clarity and truth.”

He said it was a time when people were concerned about the fate of civilians amid reports that a lot of people within the town have been killed or fled, leaving Wau a ghost town since Friday evening.

Eyewitnesses say sporadic gunfire started on Friday evening and resumed on Saturday morning as a full-scale armed confrontation. Crackles of gunfire varied over hours as armed groups exchanged fire.

Residents say shops in the town were looted while the fighting was ongoing in the south and southwest. The number of dead remains unclear but sources say it could be one of the deadliest armed confrontations within the town. Several students at Bahr El Ghazal University confirmed one of their colleagues was shot dead by a bullet appearing to have been fired from a tree.

“Comrade Michael Mariak was shot dead this morning inside the hostel compound. The bullet came straight from one of the trees near the university and hit him in the head and died instantly,” said Deng Mawien, a student at Bahr el Ghazal University in Wau town. Deng said he and several of his colleagues were now being evacuated to the military base north of the town.

“The army has come and we are now moving with them to Grinti,” he said before cutting the line. The student was referring to the headquarters of the SPLA’s fifth infantry division in the area.

Separately, sources told Radio Tamazuj yesterday that the ousted governor Elias Waya has been arrested. On Thursday, one day before his removal by President Salva Kiir, he had differed with SPLA over its aggressive posture in the city and allegedly had also accused a local commander of embezzling funds meant for soldiers' salaries, which caused them to rob and loot from civilians in order to make a living. 

File photo: Andrea Mayar (Radio Tamazuj)

Related: 

Fighting in Wau; Red Cross calls for civilians to be spared (25 June)

Wau governor removed; situation tense (24 June)