South Sudan rebel leader Gatluak Gai was shot dead on Saturday, the army and rebels said, just a week after he agreed to a ceasefire and as the newly independent country renewed an amnesty offer. There were differing accounts of how Gai was killed, with the south's army the SPLA insisting he was gunned down by his own men after reneging on the agreement, and a rebel source saying he was "murdered" by the SPLA.
"He was not killed by the SPLA; he was killed by his own men" in Unity state, army spokesman Philip Aguer told AFP by phone from Juba. South Sudan, which declared independence from the north on July 9, faces a host of daunting challenges.
Among the greatest is the threat posed by at least seven militias within its borders, with more than 1,800 people killed in conflict so far this year, according to the United Nations, many between the army and the rebels in states across the country. Aguer said Gai, a renegade militia commander who rejected an amnesty offer from the southern government last year, signed a ceasefire last week after months of negotiations with Unity state Governor Taban Deng Gai.
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