Dawn Battle Stuns Yei River County
At first light Saturday, fighters from the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-in-Opposition stormed South Sudan People’s Defense Forces positions in Lasu and Libogo, two farming villages southwest of Yei, unleashing the loudest firefight local residents recall since 2016.
SPLA-IO spokesperson Colonel Lam Paul Gabriel said the operation began around 5 a.m., a time chosen, he noted, to “minimise civilian movement.” The army has not commented, but traders travelling the Yei–Lasu road confirmed plumes of smoke rising for hours afterward.
Casualty Claims and Seized Weaponry
Colonel Gabriel reported twelve government soldiers killed and five opposition fighters lost, with several wounded “still being tallied.” He also displayed images purportedly showing a captured Land Cruiser fitted with a 14.5-millimetre gun, a 120-millimetre mortar, and assorted automatic rifles.
Independent verification remains elusive; nonetheless, humanitarian monitors from the NGO network in Yei said they heard “sustained heavy calibre fire” matching descriptions of mortars and heavy machine guns, adding that field clinics admitted more casualties than usual on Saturday afternoon.
Civilians Braced for New Displacement
Rumours of approaching columns sent families sheltering in church compounds across Yei town. “At least three hundred people slept here last night,” Pastor Samuel Wani told our correspondent, worried that renewed clashes could choke the trading corridor to Uganda once again.
Aid agencies say Yei already hosts thousands uprooted by earlier cycles of violence. Any fresh fighting, warns the International Organization for Migration, would not only swell camp numbers but also complicate seed distribution scheduled to start before the imminent rainy season.
Peace Deal Faces Fresh Strain
The 2018 Revitalised Peace Agreement, hailed for silencing major front lines, has frayed in recent months. Tensions spiked in March when First Vice-President Riek Machar was briefly confined to Juba, a move analysts describe as deepening mistrust between rival military wings.
Political commentator Jok Madut Jok notes that “local offensives often serve as bargaining chips during national negotiations.” He warns that without a rapid investigation and joint security meetings, commanders on both sides could interpret silence from Juba as a green light for escalation.
Call for Regional Mediation
Yei’s proximity to the borders of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo adds geographic urgency. Diplomats from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development are reportedly contacting military leaders to convene in Nimule this week, hoping to prevent the firefight from igniting a wider cross-border emergency.
For now, calm has returned to Yei town. Market stalls reopened Sunday, though traders kept radios close. “We just want uninterrupted peace to sell our cassava,” said vendor Rose Modi, echoing a sentiment shared across South Sudan’s war-weary Equatoria region.