Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Juba ( Agenzia Fides) - South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir says on December 16 that an attempted coup by some military units has been put down. It comes after heavy gunfire overnight in the capital, Juba. Fighting broke out around 10 pm in a local police station in the city and continued for over an hour, and intensified in the early morning.
The President said that the coup leaders are on the run chased by the soldiers loyal to to the Presidency.
The newspaper Sudan Tribune reports that the shooting broke out when a unit, formed in large part by the Nuer, was alarmed by the movements considered suspicious by another unit formed mostly by the Dinka.
The political tension in South Sudan increased after President Salva Kiir (who belongs to the Dinka ethnic group) had sacked Vice President Riek Machar (a Nuer) in July.
The latter had announced his intention to contest the 2015 Presidential elections. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 16/12/2013)
