World

Rumbek Town Sees 71 Fatalities Amid Intercommunal Violence

By AFP

Intercommunal clashes in Rumbek, Lakes State, South Sudan have killed 71 people, the caretaker government said in a statement. The South Sudanese interim Ministry of Information reported that the deaths included four soldiers, though the exact number has not yet been verified. According to AFP, witnesses described a group of outsiders who briefly took control of the town before withdrawing when police and military reinforcements arrived. Two witnesses said the fighting moved outside the city limits. The government statement added that Rumbek is now under the control of government security forces and that efforts are underway to restore normalcy. The caretaker administration condemned the violence and urged all communities to exercise restraint and avoid retaliatory acts that could further inflame tensions. President Salva Kiir dissolved the transitional government on September 22, appointing a caretaker administration ahead of the country’s first national elections since independence in 2011. The decree ended a power‑sharing arrangement established under a 2018 peace deal that ended a five‑year civil war that killed about 400,000 people. Intercommunal conflict has continued across South Sudan, with earlier clashes on September 17 killing 26 people and injuring 82 in a disputed border region, and an early March incident leaving at least 169 dead after armed men attacked a town.