Fresh violence has shaken the conflict-wracked nation of South Sudan, as opposition forces have seized control of the strategic border town of Akobo in Jonglei State, triggering urgent concern from United Nations officials over a deepening humanitarian crisis.
Clashes broke out across the town over the weekend, following weeks of escalating military pressure from government forces. Lam Paul Gabriel, spokesperson for the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-in-Opposition, confirmed in a Monday briefing that opposition fighters had ousted government troops from Akobo, seized dozens of military vehicles and stockpiles of weapons, and secured key strategic sites including the local airstrip and administrative headquarters. Circulating social media footage has corroborated Gabriel’s claims, showing opposition fighters deployed across central parts of the town. Government troops originally captured Akobo from the opposition back in March, but withdrew from the town following the latest offensive with no immediate casualty reports released.
Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, South Sudan’s public service minister, denounced the opposition’s takeover as an unprovoked and senseless act of aggression, accusing rebel fighters of deliberately endangering the lives of civilian residents still in the town. Gatkuoth noted that the national military would release a full official accounting of the battle in the coming days, but the country’s army spokesperson has declined to offer any immediate comment on the engagement.
Akobo holds major strategic significance for South Sudan’s ongoing civil conflict: it is one of the last remaining strongholds of opposition forces loyal to Riek Machar, the country’s detained former vice president. The town sits directly along South Sudan’s border with Ethiopia, making it a critical supply and staging location for armed groups operating in the region. Last month, government forces ordered all remaining residents to evacuate Akobo to clear the way for a large-scale military offensive to dislodge the opposition from the area. That evacuation order forced thousands of civilians to flee their homes, many seeking shelter across the border in Ethiopian territory.
The current round of fighting between the South Sudanese government and opposition groups comes roughly one year after a 2018 nationwide peace deal collapsed, reigniting full-scale civil conflict across the country. On Monday, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) issued an official statement warning of rapidly deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the area, and calling on all warring parties to implement an immediate ceasefire.
“Our teams are engaging intensively with all parties at every level to help prevent further escalation of violence and restore calm to the region,” said Priyanka Chowdhury, UNMISS’s spokesperson. The mission’s next steps remain uncertain, however, as UNMISS is scheduled to close its permanent peacekeeping base in Akobo in the coming months amid widespread global cuts to humanitarian and peacekeeping budgets for South Sudan.