Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — The military has been divided by a revolt that spread throughout South Sudan.

Officials said the South Sudanese military was racked by a mutiny against President Salva Kiir.

The officials said units loyal to ousted Vice President Riek Machar were taking over military bases in several provinces of South Sudan.

“The revolt has spread from Juba to large areas of the country,” an official said.

The revolt began with what Kiir termed a coup attempt in Juba on Dec. 16. But despite the president’s assurances heavy fighting was reported between army units aligned to rival tribes.

“Salva must recognize that the charge of his being ‘dictatorial’ has taken deep hold, and he must do what is necessary to shed the label as much as possible,” Eric Reeves, a leading Western analyst, said.

For his part, Machar denied any link to a coup. He said the fighting in
Juba on Dec. 16 was between units of the Presidential Guards.

“What took place in Juba was a misunderstanding within a division of the
Presidential Guard,” Machar said in a statement on Dec. 18. “It was not a
coup attempt.”

So far, the mutiny has spread to Jonglei, the nation’s largest state and
a stronghold of Machar’s Nuer tribe. In all, about 500 people were estimated
to have been killed in the fighting as Western embassies have been
evacuated. The U.S. military sent two C-130 aircraft to evacuate 120
staffers from Juba.

“The two main ethnic groups, the Dinka and the Nuer, could go into a
full-fledged civil war in the country,” France’s envoy to the United Nations
Gerard Araud and president of the Security Council, said.

  Jonglei, Juba, Nuer tribe, Reik Machar, S. Sudan revolt spreads as soldiers mutiny against president, Salva Kiir