The South Sudanese President, Salva Kiir has told reporters that an attempted coup by soldiers loyal to his sacked Vice President, Riek Machar has been foiled by government troops.

President Kiir dismissed his depute, Riek Machar in July this year accusing him of planning to carry out attacks to destabilize the country.

Heavy gun fire and explosions were heard on Monday in the capital Juba, compelling the government to impose an early night time curfew on the city.

The fighting was reported to have been broke out overnight, and intensified in the early morning, with reports of continuous gunfire and several explosions in the capital, Juba alone.

The city’s airport has been closed and the state TV channel SSTV went off air for several hours before it came back on air with President Kiir in military uniform addressing the country.

Mr. Kiir said that the government was in full control of the capital and is still pursuing those involved in the coup in order to bring them to face the law.

He said the fighting began when unidentified uniformed personnel opened fire at a meeting of Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), followed by an attack on army headquarters near the university carried out “by a group of soldiers allied to the former vice-president Dr Riek Machar and his group”.

“I will not allow or tolerate such incidents once again in our new nation. I strongly condemn these criminal actions in the strongest terms possible,” he said, vowing those responsible would be have to stand “before the appropriate law institution”.

” The violence was an attempted coup but be rest assured that the government is doing all it can to make sure that citizens are secured and safe, the government is in full control of the security situation in Juba”, Mr. Kiir said on National Television SSTV.

Both President Kiir and Mr. Machar were part of the Sudanese Peoples’ Liberation Movement (SPLM) that fought for independence from Sudan but relation between the two worsen in less than 2 years of independence from Sudan.

Several people were reported injured and hundreds of diplomats have fled to the fortified United States embassy in the city.

An anonymous senior figure in the government told local reporters that some arrest have been made and those arrested confessed that the coup was planned by Mr. Riek Machar.

“We have made some arrest and they have all confessed of carrying out the attacks on the instructions of Riek Machar, they will face the law soon’’, the anonymous voice said.

The where about of Mr. Machar is unknown but there is suggestion he might be hiding in neighboring countries.

The United Nation’s special representative in the country, Hilde Johnson said she was “deeply concerned” and urged “all parties in the fighting to cease hostilities immediately and exercise restraint”.

Both Sudan and South Sudan are reliant on their oil revenues, which account for 98% of South Sudan’s budget but international donors have urged the country to diversify the economic to avoid future economic crisis.

South Sudan took some 75% of the oil from Sudan but all the pipelines run north and there are concerns that dispute over oil could lead the two neighbours to return to war again.

Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa News

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