SUDAN / SOUTH SUDAN INSECURITY

Last month gunmen loyal to renegade SPLA general Peter Gatdet attacked and burned down the town of Mankien. The SPLA carried out a counter-attack the following day and drove out the militia fighters. The fighting left 30 rebels, 20 SPLA troops, and four civilians dead according to SPLA Colonel Mayol Lual Ayom. UNMIS

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:46
• Production Date: 4 May 2011
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS ASSISTANCE MISSION IN SUDAN - UNMIS
• Subject Topical: POLITICAL AFFAIRS; LAW; INTERNATIONAL LAW; POLITICAL CONDITIONS; POLITICAL CONDITIONS; POLITICAL MOVEMENTS; PEACE AND SECURITY
• Geographic Subject: SUDAN
• MAMS Id: U110504c

Description

STORY: SUDAN / SOUTH SUDAN INSECURITY
TRT: 01:46
SOURCE: UNMIS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 29 APRIL 2011, MANKIEN, MAYOM, SOUTHERN SUDAN

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, SPLA soldiers walk past burnt huts
2. Close up, remnants of burnt down huts
3. Close up, remnants of burnt down huts
4. Close up, remnants of burnt down huts
5. Wide up, few inhabitants walk past charred huts
6. Wide shot, inhabitants of Mankien town
7. Close up, woman, inhabitant of Mankien town
8. Close up, boy, inhabitant of Mankien town
9. Close up, baby and mother, inhabitant of Mankien town
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Mayom County Commissioner Charles Machieng Kuol:
“The population which is actually displaced in the county is 16,000 civil population in which women and children are suffering under the trees. These people are in need of food, shelter, and medicine facilities, because in Mankien the attack was very serious.”
11. Wide shot, clothes littered the ransacked town of Mankien
12. Close up, bullets
13. SPLA Colonel Mayol Lual Ayom walks through town
“We just drive them quickly they are running. As they were running they were burning.”
14. Wide shot, SPLA soldiers walk
15. SOUNDBITE (English) SPLA Maj. Gen. James Koang Chol:
“We remain only with a few months, which is two months, and we will be independent country. What I can tell them that is let them come and then so that we join hands for the development of the country instead of fighting.”
16. Wide shot, children on local-made cart

Storyline

Last month (21 April), gunmen loyal to renegade SPLA general Peter Gatdet attacked and burned down the town of Mankien bordering Warrab State in Southern Sudan. The SPLA carried out a counter-attack the following day and drove out militia fighters from Mankien.

The fighting left 30 rebels, 20 SPLA troops, and four civilians dead according to SPLA Colonel Mayol Lual Ayom. Another attack was reported on the village of Tam on 24 April.

SOUNDBITE (English) Mayom County Commissioner Charles Machieng Kuol:
“The population which is actually displaced in the county is 16,000 civil population in which women and children are suffering under the trees. These people are in need of food, shelter, and medicine facilities, because in Mankien the attack was very serious.”

SPLA Major General James Koang Chol accused the north of fueling the fighting in the south, though there has not been any confirmation of the allegation. However, he encouraged his fellow southerners to give up fighting and come home.

SOUNDBITE (English) SPLA Maj. Gen. James Koang Chol:
“We remain only with a few months, which is two months, and we will be an independent country. What I can tell them that is let them come and then so that we join hands for the development of the country instead of fighting.”

The SPLA claims they have uprooted eight anti-tank mines from the road connecting Mankien and Mayom towns, and that they are in full control of Unity State.

The UN has assured the officials of Unity State that emergency food and medical supplies will be delivered to the inhabitants of Mankien town and its surroundings.