CAIRO
South Sudanese Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin has dismissed claims by a rebel commander that the government used chemical weapons against rebel forces during recent clashes in the northern Upper Nile State.
"We don't have any chemical weapons. We are a small country; these are all lies," Benjamin told Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview the full text of which will be published later.
"It's impossible for anyone to use chemical weapons against his compatriots. Rebel leader Riek Machar was once the president's deputy; he knows we don't possess such arms," he said.
Benjamin's remarks came after Gabriel Tangiye, a rebel commander in Upper Nile State, claimed that government troops had used advanced arms against rebel forces, hinting at the use of chemical weapons.
In recent weeks, government troops and rebel forces have locked horns in strategic Upper Nile State – which is the source of about 80 percent of South Sudan's oil output.
According to the army, at least 195 people were killed in the clashes.
South Sudan has been shaken by violence since last December, when President Salva Kiir accused Machar, his sacked deputy, of plotting to overthrow his regime.
Hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese have since been displaced in fighting between the two rivals, leading to an increasingly dire humanitarian situation.
In recent months, the warring camps have held on-again, off-again peace talks in Addis Ababa under the auspices of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a Djibouti-based regional bloc.
By Hagar al-Dosoki
www.aa.com.tr/en
