the SPLA weren't taking us up to the
front our charity the days Juber have
been abuzz as wild rumors that the
rebels are advancing down the bush road
to the cattle and were ready to strike
our roadtrip north was a carefully
planned PR opportunity to dispel these
rumors and to show the world that the
government still controlled the entire
road to the front line it's a strange
country I mean look first I don't allow
you to film anything absolutely anything
and then suddenly they offer you the
world take a shine to you get its
cluesive trips up to the front line
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that's how it's but the generals coming
back let's see what I can do
it is good deeds happen here yeah yeah
it happened in that it could not be okay
by it is good it happened here yes good
to sit together here in Micah do you
think the solutions next conflict will
be a political one and addis ababa
or a military one here on the ground to
me i don't think that the rebel they
have legitimate right to fight because
we just celebrated our country recently
if they need if the politician needed
the power they should go to ballot paper
okay we are young so i mean they're also
supreme is flying around Juba that the
rebels they're coming down this road no
I don't think somebody misled you know
that the woman they're fighting is Iran
young gray and we are hopefully to
capture Daytona and you believe me what
I'm telling you at the moment is that we
are going to place them out form from
broad terms and even the somebody
started running away as befits the
commander of the most elite unit in the
South Sudanese army the general was
confident about the victory ahead he
kept telling me forward fall to
government forces in the next few hours
and that the rebels were merely a poorly
trained rabble tribal volunteers that is
why we are calling them where once the
rebel is that some wherever he's not
organized
it has nothing has no basis yes we can
say that some few soldiers from within
our forces they defected but to me I
think they are regretting the decision
that they have taken the government had
lost for twice in the previous two weeks
for all the government superior
equipment and manpower the rebels were
clearly doing something right but we
stopped off for a few hours near Mangala
a garrison town just 50 miles north of
the capital that according to Juba
rumors had already fallen to the rebels
the rumors were clearly wrong the
generals commandos were firmly in
control of Mangala and a dusty village
was a hive of activity that they
prepared to move
it would take us all day to travel less
than 200 kilometers frontline the
generals men tried to hurry things along
while driving at high speed but on roads
like this that's a gamble the pickup
truck in front of us hits a pothole
flips into a ditch trapping soldiers
inside
the convoys zoomy ahead of us these
terrible roads when a car overturned
it's like gushing out smoke of the guys
who injured not too badly it could mean
a lot worse but it shows difficulties
are travelling this country the roads
are terrible it's a difficult place to
wage war there's a bad omen for the
journey ahead
he barely left Juba and the generals
bodyguard had already taken casualties
as we approach territory only recently
recaptured from the rebels the commandos
look visibly more alert armed villagers
had warned them that it spotted
suspicious men skulking around in the
bush they suspected their rebel Scout
the general is keen to reassure me
they're being overcautious yeah you know
what when there is an information about
the enemy the soldiers you must take
caution yeah yeah because you don't need
to be surprised by your enemy it does
not mean that there is a rule along the
road general gangwish talks of villages
to greet our comrades in a long 20-year
liberation struggle against the Arab
government in Khartoum
eventually we stop for the night at the
forward base of the assault and bore the
SPLA had taken over a tourist resort
sudan safari is their divisional
headquarters serene here it's our home
for the night we're about nine
kilometers south of front nine or what
was the front line it looks like the
Esper they push forward it's a nice
place
tory's has to come here before the war
now it's an armed camp good everyone's
pretty chilled out there was chatting
smoky greasy friends that I seen for a
while
they all say the rebels have fled that
balls already fallen and we'll see
tomorrow pass true or not at the moment
things are looking good for the SPLA
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we're waking up by sound of vehicles
outside they said they're getting ready
to move on ball hopefully we'll come
with them able to follow your troops up
to ball you have free to cover that
world movement from where we are active
object we leave you to go and see
exactly before first light general
galaxy's commandos moved out toward war
as the Sun rose the SPLA infantry the
parents join them sang their war chance
for battle
but tradition is in the long days of
guerilla war against a more raw was high
as the lead elements of the force pulled
into position two battalions of infantry
been sent up the Nile by boat from Juba
would be their job to take boar and it
seemed to the forest in the back of the
head in some ways they looked and moved
like a professional army but the overall
effects at times did of a tribal militia
he's trying to move
we'd been held back from the infantry at
the head of the collar for her own
safety the SPLA said instead they placed
us in the rear convoy made off the
divisional headquarters with all the
generals supply troops police and the
motley assortment of untrained Inca
civilians given uniforms and weapons and
pass off to the war as we moved the
government forces made their weapons
ready trained soldiers giving the
inexperienced volunteers last-minute
tutoring and how to use the rifles
government troops been attacked here
just two days earlier we drove slowly to
an eerie landscape of abandoned villages
never was there is a matter in the
rebels will run away from suddenly if he
shots rang out from the bush to our
right the convoy halted as soldiers
tried to find the source of fire
there's driving up to the front line
when they had gunfire the troops lets
out the vehicles the face explodes that
direction you're taking up position this
might be it we're not far from borne out
the officers in charge ordered the
troops back into their vehicles this was
just a warning of the trouble with lie
ahead
the rebels ambushes would escalate in
severity as he tested the government
troops strength and willingness to fight
burned out tanks dotted the way ahead
from the last time the government fled
Bor just a week or so earlier suddenly
there's a second burst of fire from our
right
we're just driving ahead in support you
can see the smoke from Bora burning in
the distance and then it's rifle fire
the right of us we all jumped out the
thick bush and our flank was meant to be
cleared by the infantry ahead of us but
clearly the rebels are still around and
still up for a fight
the slow-moving convoy was a vulnerable
target as the mobile headquarters for
the whole assault with all the generals
riding with us who was the brain of the
whole operation
if the rebels could take us out to hold
assault and boar would be in danger no
one realized that the bloodiest ambush
of the day was lying just ahead of us
with us on the outskirts of Norwich
please we hit the river crossing it
kicked off big time
the escalate troops here return firing
rockets
announcer the backpack rot it's all
chaos clear the area behind cover it
wasn't clear what the beacon here you've
got the Nile and our side here we're
kind of hemmed in between the rebels and
the river there's a scene of utter chaos
it seemed to be little coordination
between the different elements making up
the convoy while the infantry escorts
mostly fought back most of the police
and militia ran around in circles
without any direction from officers or
NCOs the decisive soldiers would
actually happen is pretty o6e and he
said just behind that tree line just
there the head of the convoy we're
traveling and got ambushed had a few
soldiers killed and the enemy is still
in there somewhere so they're working
out what to do next
according to an officer ass Bates he
later over 20 government soldiers were
killed in this ambush including a senior
general and tree with bodyguards the
wounded and the dead were gathered
together to be brought back to Juba by
boat without any medics in the field the
outlook for the most seriously wounded
was grim it had been a costly few
minutes for the South Sudanese army
but more truths are flooding in to lead
the assault and ball bring up
reinforcements a whole battalion of
infantry the ones we saw earlier I go
ahead back with new speed boats to Juba
with the dead and wounded the generals
body was taken back to the previous
night's base to be helicoptered back to
Juba the rebels that attacks us ambush
in the portion in the village to the
right of the road instead of clearing
the area troops busy themselves with
domestic tasks and foraging for lunch
the generals in charge may parry out the
new headquarters for the battle to come
but their position is more vulnerable
than they realized just before dusk
the rebels launched an assault in the
uncleared half the village instantly
everyone fled the officers run ago first
leaving their men directionless and
terrified the fourth entirely lost its
nerve and broke one soldier stopped our
vehicle at gunpoint while his colleagues
thrust a wounded friend inside he'd been
shot in the chest
we were just miss having dinner in the
camp everything had stopped with two
hours this soldiers are all cooking and
cleaning when suddenly we heard incoming
rifle fire the soldiers all Hispanics
and fled what was bombed it down the
road a few hundred meters the firing
rockets back but they obviously can't
hold their positions don't really know
what they're doing this isn't a good
place to be
you picked up a young protein commander
the first South Sudanese to be trained
at Brittany the prestigious Royal
Military Academy Sandhurst his men had
abandoned him taking his vehicle but the
enemy I thought they were just like kids
with guns but they seemed to know what
the day yeah they can find yeah they
come in a few number by the way it's now
been three weeks people are fighting
so it's olya that come in scared yeah so
whenever they heard the sound of gun
could losing their friends along the
road a fleeing Brigadier and some with
men Johnson we tried to work out if the
rebels to set up another ambush burns
down the road to catch fleeing troops
and whether it is safe to go back to
north Juba or battle with the village in
the end we have no choice but the head
backs who was Juma along the rest the
convoy
it's at the end of these truths for that
day yeah people think that Dingaan were
right here
most of rebels on this front were they
under sense it's like a tribal army but
in our side somewhere that was us
you see yesterday the general looking
with you yes so it's like but it's
stunning that to the government the
entire convoy drove through the dark
away from the fighting racing each other
to get away first
finally the falx halted back at Mangler
barely outside the Capitol it had been a
bad day that south sudanese army
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