Deadly fighting erupts between South Sudan party’s rival factions

VP Riek Machar denies claims by rivals earlier this week that they had deposed him as the head of SPLA-IO party.

Deadly fighting has erupted between rival factions of South Sudan Vice President Riek Machar’s SPLA-IO, his military spokesman said in a statement. The clashes erupted on Saturday after Machar’s rivals declared this week they had deposed him as the head of the party and its military forces. Armed forces led by a rival general in the party, Simon Gatwech Dual, had launched an attack on Machar’s men, who had “repulsed the aggressors”, spokesman Colonel Lam Paul Gabriel said.