South Sudan rebels capture some oil wells in Unity state -Minister

 
South Sudan rebels loyal to former vice president Riek Machar have captured some oil wells in Unity state where production was shut down earlier this week due to fighting, the petroleum ministry told Reuters on Thursday.
   
"Some oil wells are in the hands of rebel soldiers loyal to former vice president Riek Machar and we fear they may cause damage to the facilities and the environment," Petroleum Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau said by telephone.
   
Dau said rebels have captured the Thar Jath oil field in  Unity state, a region which produced about 45,000 barrels per day before the shutdown. Dau added that oil flows are unaffected in Upper Nile state where 200,000 bpd are produced.

This as African mediators trying to broker a peace deal in South Sudan, after 12 days of fighting that has killed thousands, held constructive talks with President Salva Kiir, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom said.
   
"The meeting with the president (Kiir) ... was very constructive and very candid," Adhanom, who was in Juba with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, told reporters on Thursday.
   
"The issues that we discussed were among others the cessation of hostilities, an immediate start of dialogue to settle the issue politically, the detainees who were suspects of the coup, and the fourth is the humanitarian crisis."
 
UN says agencies need $166 million to aid civilians in South Sudan:

The United Nations said aid agencies need $166 million over the next three months to help civilians in violence-wrecked South Sudan.   
    
The office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs said in a statement that the money is needed for maintaining health and sanitation, distributing food, as well as managing camps for those displaced by the recent ethnic clashes.                        

The UN humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan Toby Lanzer in the statement that at least 90,000 people have been displaced in the past ten days, with 58,000 people sheltering in UN peacekeeping bases            

The UN coordinator expressed hope that donors would “act swiftly” to raise the necessary funds.              

It is worth noting that the United Nations said thousands have been killed in South Sudan since 15 December when violence erupted after President Salva Kiir accused his former vice president, Riek Machar, of attempting to overthrow him in a coup. 


REUTERS