Renk town located north of South Sudan’s only still producing oil fields came under attack by rebel forces on Wednesday afternoon.
Sources in Renk told Radio Tamazuj the town had come under attack at around 4:00 p.m., with some fighting continuing into the night.
Preliminary reports are still unclear as to details. The nearest known opposition forces to Renk prior to the attack were across the river in Manyo County.
National Courier, citing the SPLA Sector Command in Paloich, said the army repelled a “ferocious rebel assault on Renk town” on Wednesday evening.
A senior military officer said the fighting raged for more than four hours, with sporadic gunfire still heard Wednesday night toward the south of the town.
Renk is a hub for river trade and agriculture, and is connected to north Sudan’s electrical power grid and network of tarmac roads.
It is the northernmost town in South Sudan. The oil pipeline from Paloich to Sudan passes close by the town.
This is the first time opposition forces have been reported on the east bank of the Nile north of Paloich. Their presence in Renk County means that potentially the SPLA will have to fight on two fronts in order to defend the oil fields, which are also threatened from the south.
Production last month was reported by the government to be steady at about 160,00 bpd at the Upper Nile fields. This is the source of most of the government’s revenues.
Prior to the crisis in South Sudan, oil fields in Upper Nile State were comparatively more productive than the Unity State fields, which have been shut down since December.
SPLA was able to repulse attacks toward the Upper Nile fields in late February after the state capital Malakal was overrun by rebel fighters. The government later recaptured Malakal, but it remains abandoned and uninhabited.