JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — South Sudan’s government on Monday asked civilians to leave a northern area a day after the army conducted an airstrike against an armed group accused of overrunning a military base and attacking a U.N helicopter.
The group’s attacks in Nasir County have threatened a peace deal signed in 2018 by President Salva Kiir and his rival-turned-vice president, Riek Machar, that ended a five-year civil war during which over 400,000 people were killed.
Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth told journalists that any civilian in a military zone and refusing to leave “will be treated accordingly.”
Lueth confirmed that the army had conducted an airstrike in Nasir County on Sunday night and would continue to do so.
Nasir County Commissioner Gatluak Lew Thiep told local media outlets that more than a dozen civilians were killed in the airstrike.
The army did not confirm killing civilians.
Government troops have been clashing in Nasir County with an armed group, known as the White Army, that some believe is allied with Machar.
Kiir angered Machar’s faction in recent weeks by firing officials seen as loyal to Machar, who said that “persistent violations through unilateral decisions and decrees threaten the very existence” of the 2018 peace deal.
Government troops earlier this month surrounded Machar’s home in the capital, Juba, and several of his allies were arrested after the White Army overran the military base in Nasir County.