A Surprise Attack Pits Ally Against Ally in East Africa

New York Times

2 days ago

Backed by tanks and artillery, soldiers from Uganda sneaked across the border with South Sudan and opened fire on troops long considered to be allies, South Sudanese officials said on Wednesday. When the firefight was over, the bodies of eight men, some in army fatigues, one in bluejeans, were left crumpled and bleeding on the ground.
It was not immediately clear what prompted the surprise attack in the border county of Kajo Keji in South Sudan, a country teetering on the edge of civil war. Uganda has long provided military support to the South Sudanese government.
The violence claimed the lives of at least eight soldiers, five from South Sudan and three from Uganda, according to South Sudanese officials and a clergyman.
'Children went unattended as they got separated from their parents, the elderly remained scattered as they began to get out of the bushes to look for their unaccompanied kids, and the sick and injured had no medicine to be given,' said Joseph Aba Nicanor, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Liwolo, who mediated the collection of remains.
More than 100 people were displaced by the fighting, Bishop Nicanor said.
The firefight, which erupted on Monday, represented a rare clash between the longtime security partners at a time when the hard-won stability of oil-rich South Sudan is increasingly at risk. In March, after years of slow progress toward cohesion, the South Sudanese vice president was placed under house arrest in a political standoff. The same month a Ugandan official said the country had deployed troops to South Sudan's capital, Juba, in support of the South Sudanese president.
Compounding the country's woes, in April the Trump administration revoked visas for all South Sudanese passport holders, increasing desperation in a country where millions of people are facing hunger, displacement and disease as violence intensifies and the United States slashes aid.
The fighting on Monday afternoon plunged the border community into chaos. Bishop Nicanor shared photos of villagers who had fled with their belongings on their backs and said that two lost children had sought refuge in his home. Other photos showed the dead.
The skirmish highlighted the growing concerns over Uganda's influence in South Sudan.
'South Sudanese have expressed fears over alleged encroachment on border areas and exploitation of natural resources,' said Daniel Akech Thiong, a senior South Sudan analyst for the International Crisis Group. 'These clashes show that the presence of Ugandan forces in South Sudan indicates a risk of conflict,' he said.
A spokesman for South Sudan's Army confirmed that the two forces had traded gunfire. 'The exchanges resulted in both sides taking casualties,' Gen. Lul Ruai Koang said in a statement on Tuesday. He said the two countries had agreed to form a joint investigative committee.
Ugandan officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Maura Ajak and Abdi Latif Dahir contributed reporting.