Fourteen people lost their lives in the fighting that occurred on Monday between the South Sudanese army and the militia in Upper Nile state close to Nasir town.
The South Sudan army announced that as a result of the clashes, four soldiers and 10 armed men were killed.
White Army militia fighters attacked the positions of the South Sudanese army three times, thus performing three assaults, said the army spokesperson Garang Ateny.
The incident happened in the very northeastern area which was the scene of the latest violent episode leading to the arrest of First Vice President Riek Machar in March.
Machar, a rival of President Salva Kiir for a long time, was kept under watch for trying to provoke a revolt by giving supposed help to the White Army militia.
Both Machar and the SPLM-IO party claim that they are not connected to the White Army. The SPLM-IO and White Army spokespersons were not available for a comment.
The two leaders have been in an unstable power-sharing government since the 2018 peace deal that ended the civil war which killed over hundreds of thousands.
The conflict was characterized by the fighting between Kiir’s Dinka forces and Nuer fighters loyal to Machar specifically on the ethnic issue. Machar’s arrest has triggered worries in the international community about the possibility of revived ethnic fighting in the country.
