Civilians have been pouring into the UN compound in Juba to seek shelter
Hundreds of people are believed to
have died in clashes between rival South Sudan army factions, the UN says,
quoting unconfirmed reports.
UN diplomats said they had been told by sources in the capital, Juba, that
the death toll was between 400 and 500.
South Sudan has seen two days of clashes following a reported coup attempt
against President Salva Kiir.
Fugitive opposition leader Riek Machar has denied government accusations that
he tried to seize power.
"What took place in Juba was a misunderstanding between presidential guards
within their division, it was not a coup attempt," he told the Sudan Tribune, a
Paris-based news website, in an interview published on Wednesday.
Mr Machar, a former South-Sudanese vice-president who fell out with President
Kiir in July, said he had no knowledge of or connection with any coup
attempt.
President Kiir has said a group of soldiers supporting Mr Machar had tried to
take power by force on Sunday night, but were defeated.
Amid continuing clashes on Monday and Tuesday, the government said 10 senior
political figures, including a former finance minister, had been arrested.
Details of the fighting have been sketchy, but a meeting of the UN Security
Council in New York on Tuesday was told that the clashes were "apparently
largely along ethnic lines".
'Heavy toll'
French UN ambassador Gerard Araud, who holds the rotating presidency of the
Security Council, said up to 20,000 people had taken refuge in the UN mission in
Juba.
He said the council had received only "patchy information" in a briefing
given by UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous.
"Some reports are speaking of hundreds of casualties.
For the moment we can't confirm this, but in any case it is a heavy toll," Mr
Araud told the BBC.
He said the conflict had "the potential of a civil war" between the two main
ethnic groups, the Dinka and the Nuer.
However, the governor of Unity State, Simon Kun Pouch, was quoted on the government
website as saying that the conflict had nothing to do with tribes.
"There are people out there saying what has happened is between the Dinka and
the Nuer tribesmen. We the leaders of this country would want to state here that
this is not true," he said.
"If you see the people going with Dr Riek [Machar], some are Dinkas, some are
Chol, Nuer and other tribes," he added.
The US has ordered all its non-emergency embassy staff to leave the country
immediately.
In hiding
President Kiir said the clashes began when uniformed personnel opened fire at
a meeting of the governing party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).
Fighting then continued into Monday when the government said it was back in
full control.
However, fresh gunfire erupted on Tuesday near the presidential palace and
many other areas of Juba.
Government officials say they are hunting for Mr Machar, who is believed to
be in hiding.
Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth told the BBC that his whereabouts
have been unclear since the start of fighting on Sunday.
He said Mr Machar - who leads a dissident faction within the SPLM - was
thought to have escaped with some troops.
On Tuesday, the government said former Finance Minister Kosti Manibe, former
Justice Minister John Luk Jok and former Interior Minister Gier Chuang Aluong
were among the 10 people arrested.
Many were members of the cabinet that was sacked in its entirety in July.
South Sudan has struggled to achieve a stable government since becoming
independent from Sudan in 2011.
The independence referendum was intended to end a decade-long conflict, led
by the SPLM, against the north.
But the oil-rich country remains ethnically and politically divided, with
many armed groups active.
bbc.co.uk
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