Saturday, May 18, 2013

South Sudan: Town 'trashed by army'

Al Jazeera has gained access to a South Sudanese town, where fighting and looting have forced most of the population to leave. Homes and a hospital have been looted and destroyed, with the UN blaming South Sudanese soldiers who have been fighting a regional rebel group. The army denies the charge, but medical staff and patients at the hospital, the only such facility for 150km, said they had been threatened by soldiers. Jonglei state is the scene of a rebel insurgency that has steadily gained momentum. An organisation that calls itself the South Sudan Democratic Movement says it wants to overthrow the government and it has taken significant territory in the east of the country. Al Jazeera's Anna Cavell reports from Pibor, South Sudan.