Ambushed in South Sudan (Full Length)

[Music] [Music] South Sudan only gained their dependence in the north in 2011 but now the world youngest country of the ready slips in civil war no outside observers know for sure how the war began the government claimed that the vice president Riek Machar tried to launch a coup against President Salva Kiir and when that failed fled north to begin the bush rebellion the rebels claimed with some accuracy that the Keir government has consolidated power into the hands of the dominant thinker tribe threatening the transition to true democracy what is known as a thousands of people have been killed hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled their homes and that both sides have committed major human rights abuses including the murder of civilians and on tribal fault lines South Sudan's an incredibly difficult country to report from partly due to the complete lack of infrastructure outside the capital Juba and partly due to the heavy filming restrictions imposed by the army an al Jazeera journalists had just been arrested then deported for claiming the rebels were about to take the capital for days the government has forbidden us to film almost anything but then they summoned us to a meeting which turned out to be a press conference we are we are a very very near support and there is no fight here but the fuzziest do you know the civilian those knots earlier they always panic and the telephone they're very dangerous do you see in the media you were awed are very serious and even myself I'm either arrested or ever run away these are rumors so there is no fight near here not missing there is no a tribe that would make a country so I want to tell my soldiers that please refrain from this tribal war so can we get votes with you so that was the press conference we accidentally gatecrash the mesh is pretty clear a lot of rumors swirling around that the rebels are advancing on Juba one of the generals here that's not true and generally they gave a message of peace of reconciliation the thing rule brothers rule South Sudanese we should leave politics to the politicians put aside tribal differences try and get through this finally get slightly outside Juba on what's clearly a very guided structured press tour none of us have any idea we're actually going but whatever it is it's something the army obviously wants us to sit a plainclothes security officer drove on ahead of us leading us to the village the seem to care for the orchestrated PR stunt [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] community we always like peace that is why even in spite of this glasses around southern Sudan we are praying for the sick people I will recite the Salva Kiir my guitar resident and with them enjoying us Southern Sudan is one we won a res mechanic to come and compromise the dead bodies are enough playing now they are tired of work people or need peace after a few minutes we rushed back onto the truck for the next stop on the PR tour major what's happening out Jenica okay the situation is normal here is that why you're taking us here to show us the situation the fighting in Juba may have finished but things were still far from normal we're driving through a ghost town that truck just ahead of us mo there the moral operations on that propaganda role of the South Sudanese army they're taking in some weird and slightly creepy guy at all absolutely no idea about it stops here I don't know why finally they took us to an abandoned district formerly lived in by people from the new air tribe they gave us just a few minutes there to film watch the whole time by our military escort according to the UN and Human Rights Watch hundreds of new air men were massacred here by government troops just two weeks earlier now the people are trying to come back they will come back because so these soldiers here are in what used to be the the newer district of Juba innumerable flat they were hiding in the UN mist base down there one of the soldiers took us here said when he knew her were killed he wouldn't say who by if he come in filming here alone the army arrested the army took us here they come to show us that everything is OK how is security now lieutenant I think that's all we're gonna get from these guys they were never going to show us where the bodies were buried and because we didn't push it the chose to send us up to the front line fine you've got a phone call this morning a surprise phone call from the general just said come to the main base bring everything you have so what's happening now how far away are the enemy from here is not a really tremendous audience so all these men here what are they gonna do now and we're gonna go with them very general within minutes really helical drugs the frontline with Juba now firmly in government hands the real war is taking place in the bush north of the capital for zany 200 kilometers north of Juba that South Sudan's terrible road network makes it a long and uncomfortable journey by road but a short trip by air when we landed the commander of the ball front general Manuel I armed or told me that his troops had defeated the rebel assault only that morning pretty cool he seemed confident and his men displayed a high level of morale this morning did the enemy attack you okay but how far away was the battle this morning the enemy do they have vehicles didn't have a vehicle that they have looted from local civilians of course they have some vehicle from you're happy with the security situation there are lots of rumors that the rebels were bouncing in June as the reinforcements and fresh supplies were unloaded casualties in the mornings fighting were rushed onto the helicopters to take them back to Juba --zz military hospital nobody's taking all that I have five minutes back to yesterday but it says we should still popular position [Music] it's a strange country I mean look further they allow you to film anything absolutely anything and then suddenly they offer you the world take a shine to you get its Gleason trips that's the front line now the army drove us north in a carefully planned PR opportunity to show the world that the government still controlled the entire road to the frontline it's but generals coming back let's do it I can do it could not be okay right it's good it happened here yeah it's good to sit together here in my car do you think the solution says 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 still a young nation so i mean they're also stream is flying around Juba the the rebels they're coming down this road no I don't think somebody misled you know at the moment that fighting is around 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 for 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 journal was confident about the victory ahead he kept telling me ball would fall to government forces in the next few hours and that the rebels are merely a poorly trained rabble of tribal volunteers that is why we are calling them where was the rebel is in someone who is 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 but the government had lost bought twice in the previous two weeks rule the government superior equipment and manpower the rebels are clearly doing something right we stopped off for a few hours near Mangala a garrison town does 50 kilometers north the capsule 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 the dusty village was a hive of activity as they prepared to move north the war it would take us all day to travel less than 200 kilometers to the frontline the generals men tried to hurry things along by driving at high speed but that's a gamble and roads like this the truck in front of us hit a pothole he flipped into a dish trapping soldiers inside the convoys zoomy ahead of us these terrible roads when the car overturned it's like gushing out smoke of the guys who were injured not too badly it could mean a lot worse but it shows difficulties of traveling this country the roads are terrible it's a difficult place to wage war it's a bad omen the journey ahead he'd barely left Juba and the journalist 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 they'd spotted suspicious men skulking around the bush they suspected their rebel Scouts but the general was keen to reassure me they're being overcautious the enemy that's all 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 Gatwick stalks off villages to greet our comrades a long 20 year liberation struggle against the Arab government in khartoum eventually we stalk to the night at the forward base of the assault and bought the SP layer taken over a tourist resort sudan safari as their divisional headquarters so we're here it's our home for the night 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 that's an armed camp everyone's pretty chilled out the others chattering smoky and greasy friends and I seen for a while they all say the rebels have fled had balls already fallen and we'll see tomorrow past true or not at the moment things are looking good for the SPLA [Music] we're waking up by sound of vehicles outside this how they're getting ready to move on bull hopefully we'll come with them we'll be able to follow your troops up to ball you have free to covered that world movement from where we are active object we leave you to go and see exactly the full first line general gap which is commando is moved out towards boar as the Sun rose the SPLA inventory preparing to join them sang their war chance before battle a tradition from the long days of guerrilla war against north morale was high as a lead elements the force pulled into position T battalions of infantry had been sent up the Nile by boat from Juba it would be their job to take boar and it seemed to look forward to the back of head in some ways they look to move like a professional army but the overall effects are time due to the tribal militia it was time to move we've been held back from the inventory at the head of the column our own safety the SPLA sir instead they placed us in the rear convoy made up of the divisional headquarters with all the generals supply troops police and a motley assortment of untrained Inca civilians given uniforms and weapons and packed off to the war as we move the government forces made their weapons ready trained soldiers giving the inexperienced volunteers last-minute tutoring and how to use their rifles government troops have been attacked here as two days earlier we drove slowly through an eerie landscape of abandoned villages there is a man in the Rebels will run away from suddenly a few shots rang out from the bush to our right the convoy halted his soldiers tried to find the source of the fire there's driving up to the front line when they heard gunfire the troops lets out the vehicles at basics woods that direction you're taking up position it's my ta we're not far from boar now the officers in charge ordered the troops back into their vehicles this was just the warning of the trouble with lie ahead the rebels ambushes would escalate in severity as they tested the convoy 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 it's a second pass of fire for my right it is driving ahead in support you can see the smoke from four burning in the distance and then it's rifle fire the right of us we all jumped out the thick bush knife language men has been cleared by the EM tree ahead of us clearly the rebels are still around it's 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 it was the brain of the whole operation the rebels could take us out the whole assault and Bor would be in danger no one realized the bloodiest ambush of the day was lying just ahead of us with us on the outskirts of smaller and soon as we hit the river crossing it kicked off big time because incoming we're gonna fire the Escalade troops here returned fire and Rockets amount of the backpack rut it's all chaos they're pushing for it to clear the area pull back to some Hut's to try and get behind cover there wasn't much the enemy on this side during the post the ambitious became true the heavy thing to find our machine today what am I doing here what the Nile and our side here we're kind of hemmed in between the rebels and the river it was a scene of utter chaos there seem 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 around around in circles without any direction from officers or NCOs the assassin soldiers would actually happen is pretty chaotic see and he said just behind that tree line just there the head of the convoy we're travelling and got ambushed had a few soldiers killed the enemy is still in there somewhere so they're working out what to do next according to an officer I spoke to you later over 20 government soldiers are killed in this ambush including a senior general and three of his 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 a few rebel bodies lay scattered about the village it had been accost in few minutes bring up reinforcements a whole battalion infantry the one who's already oh I gotta head back when speedboats ajuna with the dead and wounded the generals body was taken back to sudan safari to be helicoptered back to Juba the rebels had attacked us in the bush and the portion of the village to the right of the road but instead of clearing the area the army busied themselves with domestic tasks and foraging for lunch the generals in charge made Perry at 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 from the uncleared half of the village instantly everyone fled the officers running away first leaving their men directionless and terrified Forsett entirely lost its nut and broke it's a captain one soldier Scott's our vehicle at gunpoint while his colleagues thrust their wounded friend inside you've been shot in the chest we were just with this honey dinner in the camp everything had stopped for a few hours this soldiers are all cooking and cleaning when suddenly we heard incoming rifle fire the soldiers all just panicked and fled we'll just bombed it down the road a few hundred metres they're 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 an attempt the counters have faltered on reward of gunfire we picked up a young platoon commander the first sound needs to be trained at Britain's prestigious Royal Military Academy Sandhurst his men had abandoned him taking his vehicle but the enemy I thought they were just like kids with gum but they seem to know what the day yeah they can find yeah they can fire they come in a few number compute people by the way it's now been three weeks people are fighting so it's olya they become scared yeah so whenever they heard the sound of gun could losing their friend along the road a fleeing Brigadier jumped in with some of his men he tried to work out if the rebels had set up another ambush further down the road to catch fleeing troops and whether it's safer to go back towards Juba in the end we had no choice but to head back to was Juba along with the rest the convoy this was the end of these troops as a coherent force at least for that day yesterday there was support of you it's inspiring the end of tomorrow there might be a ceasefire yeah so whereby the two groups should talk in Addis Ababa but this is not about Inga the people think that the Ginga and we're we're here most of rebels on this front were they on their senses like we tribal army but in our side some one man that was us you see yesterday the general who came with you yes so is this time but it's turning love with a government the entire convoy droves through the dark away from the fighting racing each other to get away first finally the Falls halted at Mangala barely outside tuba it had been a bad day the south sudanese army [Music] [Music]

Channel: VICE News

Views: 8,757,038

Keywords: VICE News, news, VICE, VICE Magazine, documentary, world news, breaking news, happening now, South Sudan Internal Conflict (Event), sudan, South Sudan (Country), SPLA, Ethiopia, civil war, JUBA, BOR, conflict, war, terror, Africa, crisis, robert king, danny gold, muslim, christian, religion, bangui, french soldiers, M'Poko, documentaries, interview, culture, lifestyle, world, exclusive, independent, underground, travel, journalism, vice videos, Attack On Pearl Harbor (Event)

Id: bmZBgZfGbhM

Length: 25min 29sec (1529 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 12 2014

Reddit Comments

[u/WolfPixel]

The thing i dont get is why they dont get low when they hear gunshots on the frontline.
They only move when all guns are blazing. i would move strategically at the very first fire and send out scouts.