Attack in South Sudan’s Ruweng area kills 122, official says

NAIROBI, March 2 (Reuters) – A group of unidentified men attacked a town in South Sudan’s Ruweng Administrative Area on Sunday, killing 122 people, including 82 civilians, the area’s information minister said on Monday.

The country has seen rising violence in recent months as political infighting threatens a fragile 2018 peace deal.

The latest attack took place in Abiemnhom in Ruweng, when youth from Mayom County in neighbouring Unity State stormed the town and fought for more than three hours, Information Minister James Monyliak Mijok said.

“I would like to sadly inform you that among those killed included the County Commissioner and the Executive Director,” he said, adding that eighty-two of those killed were children, women, and elderly.

“…We managed to bury them this morning… Fifty people sustained major and minor injuries.”

The violence highlights concerns, including from the United Nations, of deepening instability since the arrest of former First Vice President Riek Machar a year ago.

President Salva Kiir signed a peace agreement with Machar in 2018 to end five years of civil war that left an estimated 400,000 dead.

But implementation of the deal has been slow and the opposing forces have clashed frequently over disagreements about how to share power.

(Writing by George Obulutsa; editing by Ammu Kannampilly and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)