Rokon town in Central Equatoria State is calm since Saturday when shooting broke out involving suspected defectors traveling from Western Equatoria.
It is suspected that defectors from barracks in Maridi passed through villages and reached to Rokon by Saturday night. The town lies to the northwest of Juba near the border between Central and Western Equatoria.
It has sheltered many Juba residents who ran from the violence in the capital last month, since it was considered a safe place. Herdsmen and cattle from Bor were also reported to have moved into the area.
Gunshots were heard in the middle of night on Saturday, according to an eyewitness who was in Rokon at the time of the incident.
“We heard gunshot in the middle of night in our area. There are some soldiers who were coming from Maridi and they belong to Riek Machar. They started fighting with the government army in the night, and the army loyal to Riek Machar has run away to place call Tidelu southeast of Rokon,” he added.
Rokon has been calm without any shooting since the slashes Saturday night, though many people now feel insecure, said the witness, a villager called Lami. He added that he did not know whether anybody was killed that night in his town.
“I saw many soldiers carrying guns and heavy guns,” he recalled. “We as civilians can’t differentiate the rebels from the government army, because they are wearing the same uniform and some of the army ran to the east of Rokon wishing to go to Juba.”
Col. Philip Aguer, speaking at a press conference on Sunday about the defections in several barracks in Equatoria, encouraged people not to be alarmed since the defectors were considered to be running away and were not advancing on Juba.