South Sudan Warring Sides Fight Near Ethiopian BorderAugust 12, 2017 - Heavy fighting erupted on Friday in the South Sudanese town of Pagak near the border with Ethiopia when South Sudanese rebels launched an offensive against government forces, the rebels said. Rebel spokesman Lam Paul Gabriel told Reuters that the rebels were seeking to regain Pagak, which was captured by government forces on Aug. 7. South Sudan descended into civil war in 2013, only two years after it won independence, when President Salva Kiir fired his deputy, Riek Machar, unleashing a conflict that has since splintered along multiple ethnic lines. The rebels fighting government forces in South Sudan remain loyal to Machar. UNMISS, the U.N. peacekeeping force in South Sudan, told Reuters in an email the situation in Pagak was “extremely worrying” and urged all combatants to show restraint.

Source: Ethiopian News August 12, 2017 17:40 UTC