Il presidente dell’African Union Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma ha detto che i massacri di Bor, capitale dello Jonglei, saranno valutati come crimini “di guerra”. La cittadina di Bor è stata conquistata dalle forze fedeli all’ex vice presidente del Sud Sudan Riek Machar nei giorni scorsi. La città ha assistito alla peggiore violenza da quando sono scoppiati i combattimenti tra le fazioni rivali all’interno dell’Esercito del Sud Sudan (SPLA).

Thousands of people fled the town after it fell into rebel hands with the United Nations warning of potential humanitarian crisis. Forces loyal to president Salva Kiir are reported to be planning an assault to retake the town.
The continental body, in a statement issued Saturday, said its chairperson was ‘‘extremely saddened by the killing of innocent civilians and the United Nations peace keepers in Bor, Jonglie State of South Sudan.’’
The statement said Zuma considers the attack “war crimes”.
‘‘She [Zuma] condemns these killings as war crimes, and extends AU’s heartfelt condolences to their families and the government of India, as well as the UN secretariats.’’
Two Indian peacekeepers were killed last week when rebels from the Nuer ethic group, the second largest in South Sudan after the Dinka, attacked the UN base the remote Akobo county.
The UN humanitarian chief in South Sudan Toby Lanzer told AFP that he is particularly worried about Jonglei state.
Lanzer had just returned from a trip to Jonglei’s main city of Bor, where he said “a battle… looms” after various reports of groups mobilising.
The UN is “fortifying the camp in Bor, making sure there is no repeat of Akobo…. But, as in Akobo, if there are few peacekeepers inside and 2,000 (fighters) outside, there’s little we can do.”
Lanzer said he was also concerned about the security situation in South Sudan’s two oil-producing states of Unity and Upper Nile and, increasingly, Lakes state
The South Sudan government said that about 500 people have been killed since violence broke out on Sunday of last week.
World leaders, the UN, AU and foreign ministers from the East African have asked for the warring parties in the conflict to seek for a political solution.
President Kiir has said he is willing to talk peace with Machar. Machar has also expressed willingness to talk to Kiir, but on condition that he releases detainees arrested in connection with the alleged coup attempt.

Source Sudan Tribune

Da ottobre 2011, tutti i governi di transizione libici hanno fallito nel compito più importante: disarmare i ribelli. E così come la nuova leadership rimane impotente di fronte al commercio di armi all’interno del Paese, fallirà sicuramente anche nella lotta al contrabbando internazionale. In poco tempo, la Libia è diventata un rifugio per gli estremisti che rappresentano una minaccia anche per i Paesi vicini. Questa situazione instabile, inoltre, gioca un ruolo negativo nella guerra civile siriana, dal momento che la maggior parte dei combattenti e delle armi dell’opposizione siriana provengono proprio dalla Libia.

Further to yesterday’s attack by gunmen on the Northern Alsarir Agriculture Project north of Kufra, which saw one manager kidnapped and at least five attackers killed, a revenge attack was carried out in Ajdabiya late last night.
A militia formally known as the Island brigade and the Libya shield number 2 militia Ajdabiya Branch headed by Idress Alkudwa, carried out an attack on Tebu civilians.
Braheem Younis an oil engineer, nominated for the upcoming Constitutional Committee and citizen from the city said that the two brigades accompanied by a massive number of Zwai tribe members, started an attack on the Tebu community in the city in revenge for the deaths they had suffered as a result of their failed attack on the National Army at the Alsarir farm project two days earlier.
Younis reported that the attack started at 1 am in the Western district and the 7^th of October neighbourhood. RPG missiles were fired at homes, and at least one Tebu member was murdered; Abubaker Youskoy a twenty two year old.
Around nine Tebu members were kidnapped, five homes burnt down after they had been ransacked of their possessions, and a number of cars were also burnt.
Younis added that the attackers were heavily armed and that they had promised a potential genocide of the Tebu in the city.
Younis said that there are fears that the historical Tebu-Zwai conflict could re-escalate and that there could be a repeat of the June 2011 clash in Kufra which left over 150 Tebu dead by the very same Libya Shield.

Source Libya Herald

 «Noi giuriamo davanti a Dio che vendicheremo tutti coloro che hanno ucciso musulmani e aggredito il loro onore, i più importanti dei quali sono Sisi e Mohammed Ibrahim“, è riportato nella nota diffusa dal gruppo terrorista Ansar Beit al-Maqdis. «Chiediamo a tutti i musulmani in Egitto di stare lontano da tutte le installazioni militari e del ministero degli interni per preservare la loro vita». Di fatto una dichiarazione di “Guerra Santa” islamica contro due rappresentanti del governo provvisorio identificati come il male assoluto da parte degli islamisti fondamentalisti vicini ad Al Qaeda. La prova ulteriore, se ce ne fosse ancora bisogno, di una saldatura tra il movimento transnazionale fondato da bin Laden e gli appartenenti al movimento islamista dei “Fratelli Musulmani” nel processo tentato di involuzione dell’Egitto.

An Al-Qaeda-inspired group in Egypt’s volatile Sinai has warned the country’s military and police, urging troops to desert their ranks or face death at the hands of its fighters.
Ansar Jerusalem, or Ansar Beit al-Maqdis as the group is known, said in a statement on militant websites Monday that it considers Egyptian troops to be infidels because they answer to a secular government.
If the warning is ignored, Ansar Jerusalem says it “will be more determined to fight” the military and police.
Like other Sinai-based militant groups, Ansar Jerusalem has been blamed for rising attacks against Egypt’s forces since a July coup toppled the country’s former Islamist president, Mohammad Morsi.
The group has also said it was behind a September suicide bombing that targeted Egypt’s interior minister, who escaped unharmed.

Source Daily Star

L’attentato viene attribuito al gruppo estremista Ansar al-Sharia, ritenuto responsabile anche dell’attacco al consolato Usa nel settembre del 2012, nel quale perse la vita l’ambasciatore Chris Stevens e tre membri del suo staff. Il gruppo salafita ha di recente dichiarato di non riconoscere le autorità libiche e le istituzioni dello stato, accusandoli di apostasia e di essere forze malefiche al servizio dei tiranni stranieri.

In the first attack of its kind in Libya, seven people died and 12 were injured when a suicide bomber in a truck hit a military checkpoint  at Bersis, 50 kilometres east of Benghazi early this morning.
“The incident took place at 1.30 am today” Benghazi Joint Security Room spokesman Ibrahim Shara, told the Libya Herald ” The suicide bomber blew himself up in Toyota Cruiser vehicle”.
One account of the attack has the suicide bomber ramming his vehicle into a checkpoint. Another is that he had parked some distance away and detonated his explosives when a soldiers went to check him. Civilians are reportedly among the dead and injured.
The first use of a suicide bomber in Libya has caused widespread shock.
“What happened in Bersis  has only seen in Iraq and Afghanistan “ said Shara, “This was a critical and dangerous attack which is moving the country to a dangerous stage”.
He added that the security forces have began investigations into who was behind the attack. However, he added that  suicide attacks were difficult because so much evidence was destroyed in the explosion.   Poor quality TV footage showed the attack site when it had not been cordoned off.  Soldiers and civilians appeared to be moving at random among the wreckage.
This is not the first time that Bersis has been the scene of a terror attack. Following the capture last month of a group of Ansar Al-Sharia fighters near Bersis in a vehicle carrying weapons and explosives, there was a failed ambush on a convoy carrying the prisoners. Later, on 28 November,  three members of Mushat Al-Awal, the 1st Marines Battalion, were killed and seven injured in clashes in Bersis.
The commander of Saiqa Forces, Wanis Bukhamada, said at the time on television that the attackers were members of Ansar Al-Sharia.

Lo Yemen, come molti altri paesi che sono passati attraverso periodi di transizione, sta affrontando le difficoltà che richiedono un alto tasso di coordinamento del governo, tra cui, a febbraio, lo svolgimento di elezioni nazionali. L’Ufficio delle Nazioni Unite per i Servizi ai Progetti (UNOPS) è un’organizzazione che realizza progetti in tutto il mondo sotto l’egida delle nazioni Unite. Dal 2008, l’UNOPS ha in corso vari progetti in Yemen.

In 2013, the organization’s portfolio grew to provide assistance to U.N. Special Envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar and his work with the National Dialogue Conference (NDC). This support will be extended to Yemen’s drafting of a new constitution, slated to take place following the wrap up of the NDC.

In line with the UNOPS mandate in Yemen, the organization has also been requested by the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation to support the assessment of the government’s public procurement system (policy, organization, processes and capacity).

Additionally, last month, the governments of Yemen and Qatar officially designated the UNOPS to administer a newly-established fund created to compensate civilians and military personnel who were forced out of their jobs and off their land in the South, following the nation’s civil war in 1994. Qatar donated $350 million to the Southern Victims’ Fund in November, giving Yemen the resources to move ahead with reconciliatory efforts for tensions that still exist between the two regions.

Jan Mattsson, the executive director of the UNOPS, recently visited Yemen in order to assess progress in the country and better understand how the U.N. can assist Yemen in its political transition.

Source Yemen Times

Per la penisola del Sinai l’anno 2013 è stato uno dei più critici dalla sua liberazione dall’occupazione israeliana.

It took a war in 1973 and a decade of negotiations to restore Sinai to Egypt. When it was returned to Egyptian sovereignty 1983 the peninsula looked forward to the implementation of development plans that would make it a land of peace and prosperity for its inhabitants and those around it. Unfortunately, the next two decades (1984-2004) witnessed little tangible progress apart from the tourist resorts that emerged in the south and helped turn that area into one of the world’s prime tourist destinations. Northern Sinai remained remote from the march of economic development, in spite of the fact that, with its long stretches of sandy beaches along the Mediterranean coastline, it is endowed with natural beauty as well as potential for industry.

Having remained fallow for so long Sinai entered an even grimmer period ushered in by terrorist attacks against southern resorts in 2004. The close of 2013 marks the end of a decade of terrorism and, hopefully, the beginning of the implementation of long-delayed plans to turn Sinai into the prosperous and thriving environment first envisaged 40 years ago.

A vicious war between the army and extremist factions and jihadist militias, now in its fifth month, has seen progress made towards dismantling the terrorist structure in Sinai. But it is important to bear in mind that the crisis runs deep. There has been cross-border infiltration which has largely been checked through the closure of most of the Sinai-Gaza tunnels. Now many leaders of takfiri factions have been apprehended, and weapon arsenals have been captured. In the wake of what Sinai activist Ghazi Abu Farraj describes as “the clean-up operation after precision surgery” there has to be a comprehensive plan capable of immunising the area from any resurgence in terrorism.

Militant field leaders like Abu Mounir, Kamal Allam and Shadi Al-Maniei, and ideological organisational leaders such as Abu Faisal, founder of the Sharia Courts in northern Sinai, are not the only players. In fact, much of the action takes place off-stage. Some of the actors ate known, others not. Arab and other countries are involved, some through their intelligence agencies, others by means of groups and organisations that they fund. There are jihadist ideologues who pronounce fatwas from behind bars, such as Abu Mohamed Al-Maqdisi in Jordan, and Wahhabi takfiri sheikhs who issue similar edicts, such as Abi Al-Munzir Al-Shanqiti, author of a lengthy tract calling on jihadists in Sinai to take up arms against the Egyptian army.

Other issues closely intertwine with events in Sinai. Extremists have used the Palestinian crisis and the sustained blockade of Gaza to legitimise aggression against Egypt. Hamas is reeling. The commercial traffic through the network of tunnels between the Sinai-Gaza border engaged some 50,000 workers and was such a major source of revenue for the Hamas government, so much so an entire ministry was set up to oversee the tunnels. That Hamas now feels beleaguered on this front suggests two possible scenarios. The first is that it has become a witting or unwitting tool for the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, as an organisational and ideological resource supported by the International Muslim Brotherhood and with the primary function of creating trouble for post-30 June Egypt. There is strong evidence to support this. In the second half of 2013 dozens of Palestinians affiliated with Hamas’s Ezzeddin Al-Qassam brigades were apprehended in Sinai and security forces unearthed large quantities of arms, ammunition and explosives traced back to the brigades. There is another dimension to this scenario. It became clear as the Egyptian army dismantled the tunnel network and tightened border security that the Egyptian authorities were aware of Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s hand in the matter. A clear message was intended: Egypt’s borders are no longer available for anti-Egyptian propaganda or for activities that undermine Egyptian sovereignty.

Mohamed Gomaa, a researcher at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, explains the second scenario. Hamas, he says, realised it could not afford to continue to lend itself to the designs of the first scenario, having concluded it would ultimately backfire, drawing fire into Gaza which would ignite the political/economic pressure and lead to a redrawing of the Gazan political map in which Hamas would be marginalised.

Eliminating terrorism in Sinai entails drying up all sources of arms. Though the supply is considerably reduced, some still find a way into the peninsula. There are weapons coming from Sudan where, according to the prominent political activist Al-Mahjoub Abdel-Salem, the regime is hostile to the developments in Egypt since 30 June. Egyptian military expert Gamal Mazloum points another supply line across the Red Sea from Yemen where Qaeda activities are flourishing.

The largest weapons tributary, however, flows from Libya, currently the greatest external threat to Egyptian national security due to the proliferation of extremist groups and a weak central government. Many of these factions fall under the jihadist Salafist umbrella and have bases near the Libyan border with Egypt. According to Egyptian security sources and Libyan affairs expert Ali Saleh, there are four arms smuggling routes from Libya into Egypt, from the maritime route and an overland coastal route in the north to two desert routes in the south. In spite of frequent reports that Cairo and Tripoli are working together to curb this traffic Egyptian military reports indicate that breaches of Egypt’s western border continue.

It is not just the weapons from Sudan, Yemen and Libya that flow into Sinai. Terrorists have also begun to flock to the peninsula in order to wage holy war. The majority of leaders of the recent wave of armed assaults have been foreign jihadists, most of them trained in Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They then passed on training to their local affiliates in Sinai. There are recent arrivals from Syria to, both Egyptian and foreign. Any effective anti-terrorist programme must take this into account. Cross border cooperation is required to dismantle an international terrorist network which, like organised crime, has tentacles everywhere. The assassination of Major Mohamed Abu Shaqara, whose whereabouts had been leaked to a terrorist cell, and of Major Mohamed Mabrouk, who was to be a key prosecution witness in the espionage case against Mohamed Morsi, both point to the trans-national nature of this network.

Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis initially claimed responsibility for the assassination, followed by Furqan Brigades. Both are members of the Jihadist Shura Council in Sinai. Security experts believe that these groups are actually covering for others outside Sinai. The backgrounds of suspects arrested in connection with the assassinations are very different to those of members of Sinai groups. The suspects come from wealthy families and had university educations whereas the vast majority of members of Sinai groups come from poor families and have little more than elementary school education and sometimes not even that.

The deadliest terrorist attacks in Sinai in 2013 were the second Rafah massacre in August in which 25 soldiers died and the bombing of an army bus in November which killed 11 soldiers. These were well organised operations, terrorist expert Lieutenant Colonel Khaled Okasha told Al-Ahram Weekly, which underscored the relationship between the perpetrators in Sinai and the International Muslim Brotherhood. This International Muslim Brotherhood provides funding and has encouraged the export of terror outside of Sinai. These exports include the attack against the church in Warraq, the attempted assassination of Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim in September and the bombing of a satellite station in Maadi in October.

July, a period of intermittent attacks, was the prelude to a major confrontation. August and November brought peaks in terrorist attacks against police and military installations and personnel, October saw a relative lull in violence. In October and November the army made major advances in the battle against terrorism, arresting many of Sinai’s jihadist takfiri leaders.

There has been a qualitative improvement in security for Sinai residents, says Mohamed Hamad, son of a local Sinai chief. The area from Beir Al-Abad to Al-Masaid at the entrance to Arish, once a trouble spot, is safe during the day and relatively safe at night, he says. The situation becomes more tense the further one moves towards Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah, where weapons still abound.

Military affairs expert General Talaat Muslim told the Weekly that the military’s overriding aim in Sinai is to restore security. The army does not play a political role in the peninsula but is following its traditional function which is to safeguard and eliminate all threats to national security. “We are engaged in a military battle and in any battle there will be losses,” he says. “However, the level of losses has remained within acceptable limits and is far less than was anticipated at the outset of operations.”

Members of the Sowarka and Tarabeen tribes complain of tit-for-tat violence between the army and terrorist groups and its effect on innocent people. They say homes have been destroyed and civilians targeted on the basis of a vague suspicions. A distinction must be drawn between those who practise violence and others, a member of the Tarabeen tribe told the Weekly. He stressed that harming the innocent breeds vengeance.

“We do not condemn the army for moving against any terrorist target. In fact we cooperate with it. But sometimes the situation gets out of control. Perhaps, too, they should do more to protect people threatened by the takfiris. Twelve sheikhs from the tribe were killed because they cooperated with the security agencies. The authorities have ignore this and not one of their families received compensation,” he says.

“There is security cooperation with neighbouring countries,” said the same source, “not least Israel. Israel also has agents and cells in Sinai that are playing a role in events and gathering intelligence in a very professional way. But we have to keep watch on those who are with us in case they turn against us. We cannot trust any party. Hamas is just like Israel in this matter. I am worried about Hamas because it is the Muslim Brotherhood’s arm playing from the outside while Muslim Brotherhood elements in Sinai confine themselves, superficially, to a political role.”

Comprehensive development is the only long term solution to any resurgence of the terrorist virus. Yet, says Salah Gawdat who has conducted many economic and technical studies on Sinai, though a third of a century has passed since Egypt won the peninsula back from Israel, two regimes have come and gone, a third is currently in power and a fourth is on its way, the development process has yet to extend beyond six per cent of the area of Sinai. This is despite the fact that Sinai contains 48 per cent of Egypt’s mineral wealth. The problem of Sinai’s underdevelopment could be solved, he says, by a realistic investment plan and a massive population transfer of around four million people from the Nile Valley. There would be development of the coastlines and land reclamation. Agricultural expansion would see an increase in olive cultivation and the introduction of new strains of wheat. These activities would change the face of Sinai though for them to happen, the state as a whole must return to Sinai, not just the army.

Source Al-Ahram Weekly

 Fatah ha iniziato la sua terza conferenza generale a Jnah (quartiere di Beirut) per eleggere i nuovi membri del partito palestinese in Libano, con 50 candidati in competizione per 15 posti. La conferenza, organizzata presso l’Ambasciata palestinese, si tiene ogni due anni per eleggere i membri del segretariato generale del partito in Libano.

There are already around 163 members in the Lebanese Regional Council who were elected by Fatah members from camps in Sidon, Tyre, the Bekaa Valley and north Lebanon.
Strong Fatah figures have been competing for positions in the general secretariat. Among them are incumbent General Secretary Rifaat Shanaa, Toufic Abdullah, the son in law of Palestinian Ambassador to Lebanon Ashraf Dabbour and Riad Abu al-Aynayn the son of Central Committee member Sultan Abul Aynayn – formerly Fatah’s most senior official in Lebanon, who now resides in Ramallah.
The conference was attended by Azzam al-Ahmad, Central Committee member for Ramallah, who is responsible for Lebanon, and Jamal Moheissen, head of Fatah’s organizational official for foreign branches.
Also attending were Samir al-Rifaei, Fatah’s representative in Syria, in addition to officials and guests from other Palestinian factions, such as Hamas’ representative in Lebanon Ali Baraka.
The conference was inaugurated by a number of speeches that stressed the importance of safeguarding the Palestinian cause and emphasizing the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
The conference was held amid strict security measures and guests were not allowed to bring their mobile phones inside the embassy and were thoroughly searched before entering.
“We should shoulder our responsibilities during these tough times and protect the camps,” Ahmad said during the conference. “We know that the situation in Syria is difficult and that we couldn’t protect the Yarmouk camp, but ongoing efforts are relentless to protect what is left of it, so the residents of the camp can return to their homes.”
“We don’t want to replay the tragedy of what happened in Nahr al-Bared. It is a painful memory,” he said, referring to fighting in 2007 between the Army and militants from the Islamist group Fatah al-Islam in the northern Lebanese refugee camp. Four hundred people were killed in the fighting, including 160 military personnel, and the camp was nearly destroyed.
“Until today we have safeguarded our unity and our camps thanks to the cooperation among all Palestinian factions,” he added. “We reject all forms of fanaticism from some Palestinians. We have no conflict with any Palestinian faction in the camp, but we won’t allow, under any pretext whether religious or any other, to drag the camp to a place that doesn’t serve the Palestinian agenda and doesn’t serve Lebanon.”
“Developing the mechanisms and the structure of Fatah in Lebanon … is ongoing. And the conference is being held today to revive the movement and elect a leader for the organizational work of the Fatah Movement in Lebanon,” Ahmad told The Daily Star.
“This conference is being held to stress Fatah’s commitment to implementing the party’s internal regulations and reinforcing the democratic work of the party, so that we are able to confront the challenges facing the Palestinian cause in general and the Lebanese context in particular,” he added.
The conference comes in the wake of a series of security incidents in the southern Lebanese camp of Ain al-Hilweh, during which several bodyguards for Fatah official Mahmoud Issa were targeted by gunfire.
Issa, known as Lino, was demoted by Fatah in October after a group of officers affiliated with him accused the movement of corruption.
Referring to his decision to discipline the prominent official, Ahmad said: “ Fatah has no room for those who don’t abide by its rules, discipline, policies and the instructions of its leaders, not in Lebanon nor in Palestine.”
Rumors have also been circulating linking certain refugee camps, notably Burj al-Barajneh and Ain al-Hilweh, to the bombs and security incidents that have rocked Lebanon in the past few months, especially after the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a Palestinian Salafist movement with links to Al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the blasts outside the Iranian Embassy in November.
The attack in the Bir Hasan neighborhood of Beirut killed 30 people and wounded scores more.

Source Daily Star

La Libia ha iniziato oggi tre giorni di lutto ufficiale per le sette persone uccise nel primo attentato suicida del paese a Bersis.

Declaring the mourning period, for what it described as “a cowardly act”, the prime minister’s office said that the 24 December celebrations of Independence Day on Tuesday would be postponed.  Also put off has been the  ceremony to lay the foundation stone for  the National Oil Company’s new Benghazi headquarters, an event of considerable significance for people living in the east of the country.  No date new date was given for either event.
In a statement issued this morning,  Ali Zeidan renewed his government’s determination to intensify all efforts and “stand as one in the face of such acts and those who are behind them”.
The government said that “this cowardly act” was an attempt to obstruct the strenuous efforts by the national military personnel and Saiqa Special Forces to maintain security and protect the civilians “especially in Benghazi”.   To this end, the government said that it would provide the police and army with everything it needed to perform their duties.

Source Libya Herald

L’Esercito di liberazione del Sud Sudan (SSLA) ha dichiarato che 5.000 uomini, sotto il comando del Magg. Gen. Mathew Pul Jang, stanno per lanciare un’offensiva militare, esortando i civili e il personale delle Nazioni Unite a lasciare la città .

“In three days, the former SSLA fighters will be in Bentiu town. Civilians and UN staff are advised to leave the town because the former SSLA forces will use heavy artillery to dislodge Maj. Gen. James Koang if he doesn’t change his mind before the deadline given to him”, the SSLA said in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Sunday.
The fourth division commander of the South Sudanese army (SPLA) in Unity state (SPLA) declared himself military governor of Unity state on Saturday after chasing out legitimate governor Joseph Nguen Monytuil.
Monytuil, who fled the fighting on Friday night to Wangkai, west of Bentiu, reported himself on Sunday to Western Bahr el Ghazal state capital Wau, officially confirming that the area had fallen under rebel control.
According to the statement, which bears the name of spokesperson Gordon Buay, Koang is in command of 600 forces stationed in Bentiu town, while the rest of the SPLA’s forces in Mayom, Parieng and other counties remain loyal to the government.
The SSLA categorically denied that Unity state was under the control of forces loyal to former vice-president Riek Machar.
“We want to inform the media that Riek Machar was lying that Unity State is under his control. Only the town Bentiu is under Maj. Gen. James Koang who commanded only 600 forces. The rest of SPLA forces outside the town are not with him”, the statement said.
Meanwhile, Koang has announced a new interim administration comprising of six state supervisors and seven county commissioners, a day after he defected to the opposition forces and assumed governorship of the oil-rich region.
An estimated 500 people have died after clashes erupted in Juba on 15 December between rival factions of the presidential guards, in what the government claimed was an attempted coup instigated by Machar and his supporters – accusations he denied.
The fighting followed deepening political tensions within the ruling SPLM after president Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, sacked his entire cabinet in July, including Machar, who hails from the Nuer tribe.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) and other sources have reported that some of the fighting in Juba targeted citizens on the basis of their tribe, with the conflict spilling over to other regions, including Jonglei and Unity states.
The SSLA claims that many officers who had defected from the SPLA ranks were acting out of emotion after learning that members of their tribe were killed in the Juba unrest and not necessarily because they supported Machar.
The group also claims that Machar has failed to win the support of the Nuer political and military elite.

Source Sudan Tribune