South Sudan’s rebels allied to the former First Vice-President Riek Machar claim they are now in control of the airstrip of Waat town in Bieh state after clashes with government troops since last week.

The rebel-appointed governor of Bieh State, Koang Rambang, told Radio Tamazuj on Monday that their forces have fully seized the airstrip in recent clashes, while admitting that they had hindered evacuations of government wounded soldiers by the International Committee of the Red Cross through the airstrip.

“ICRC cannot evacuate wounded government soldiers from an area under our control, so I can say that the government should look for another place for evacuations,” Koang said.

“We do not have any problem if there is another airstrip for them, but we will not allow the ICRC to evacuate government soldiers from our airstrip,” he added.

The opposition official accused the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) of bias towards the government.

ICRC’s coordinator Reuben Wawud said they initially evacuated 22 wounded people around Waat town following fighting in Waat last Sunday.

However, he said the two sides involved in the conflict could not agree on the evacuation of wounded people in the town of Waat.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Thursday expressed concern about the fate of people wounded in the fighting around Waat, and requested all sides to allow the wounded access to health care.