Opposition said government forces and Sudanese rebel militias launched a \u2018heavy joint attack\u2019 around 7am<\/b>
\nSouth Sudan government troops violated the country\u2019s latest ceasefire just hours after it began at midnight, the armed opposition claimed Saturday, while a government spokesman accused the rebels of attacking instead.
The competing claims indicated a shaky start to the latest attempt at ending the country\u2019s devastating five-year civil war, which has killed tens of thousands and created Africa\u2019s largest refugee crisis since the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Millions are near famine and aid delivery is often blocked in one of the world\u2019s most dangerous countries for humanitarian workers.
President Salva Kiir and rival Riek Machar, Kiir\u2019s former deputy, had agreed on the \u201cpermanent\u201d ceasefire earlier in the week in neighbouring Sudan after their first face-to-face talks in nearly two years. They then ordered their supporters to observe it.
Opposition spokesman Lam Paul Gabriel said government forces and Sudanese rebel militias launched a \u201cheavy joint attack\u201d in Mboro, Wau County in the northwest around 7am. Saturday, arriving in armoured personnel carriers, trucks and Land Cruisers.
\u201cThe fight is still ongoing as I write,\u201d Gabriel said, calling on the UN peacekeeping mission and ceasefire monitors to investigate. The opposition reserved the right to self-defence, he added.
\u201cThis is disappointing that even when their president and commander-in-chief Salva Kiir declares a ceasefire, the regime\u2019s forces still violate it,\u201d Gabriel told Associated Press. \u201cThere is the possibility Salva Kiir is not in control of his forces or he doesn\u2019t want peace to come.\u201d
South Sudan government spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny told the AP that the opposition attacked instead.
\u201cThey have a loose leadership; they\u2019re not being controlled by anyone. The people of South Sudan should be given a chance to lead a peaceful life, and the army is observing the order of the president. It\u2019s very sad,\u201d Ateny said.
The previous ceasefire in December was violated within hours, prompting a new push by the international community to threaten U. N. and regional sanctions against those blocking the path to peace.
This time, Kiir and Machar had faced a possible UN arms embargo and sanctions if fighting didn\u2019t stop and a political deal wasn\u2019t reached by Saturday.
Wary observers inside and outside the country, including the warring sides, have approached the latest ceasefire with cautious optimism at best. A joint statement by the United States, Britain and Norway warned that effects of the halt in fighting must be seen on the ground: \u201cIt must lead to\u2026 an end to the horrendous abuses endured by civilians at the hands of security forces.\u201d
The latest talks between the rivals have yet to agree on a power-sharing deal, as the government has rejected the idea of Machar again becoming Kiir\u2019s deputy. The civil war broke out between supporters of Kiir and his then-vice president Machar in late 2013, just two years after South Sudan won independence from Sudan
A 2015 peace agreement brought back Machar as vice-president but the deal collapsed in July 2016 when fresh fighting erupted in the capital, Juba, with Machar fleeing the country on foot through the bush into Congo.<\/p>\n

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