At Least Two Die in South Sudanese Town Riots

At least two people died as crowds went on the rampage in the South Sudanese town of Wau on Wednesday, setting buildings on fire and forcing many to seek shelter with U.N. peacekeepers, witnesses said.

"I saw two people dead. One with a large wound in his chest, and one that had been cut into pieces using pangas (machetes)", said local journalist Deng Dimo.

The town has been rocked by violence and protests that began last week after officials said they would move the seat of local government out of Wau, the capital of Western Bahr el-Ghazal state, to the smaller settlement of Bagare nearby.

Local activists however also accuse a local government official of stoking ethnic tensions between rival groups.

Journalist Assad Al Tahir said he had seen between 1,000 and 2,000 Dinka tribesmen attack members of the Fertit tribe in the latest unrest.

"It now has shifted to a tribal thing," said local activist Bible Manding, who had gone into hiding.

"There is so much firing and so many houses are on fire, I see so many buildings in flames."

"All the people in the area, they are outside running," said Natalina Andrea Mabo, another leading activist. Gunfire could be heard in the background as she spoke via telephone.

The riots were reported to have calmed by late in the day Wednesday, and the army was out in force patrolling the streets, according to businessman Osborne Buhere.

But he added: "I've seen most of the houses where the conflict started that were burnt.... There were many."

Local police said they could only confirm one dead.

"I think one only died.... The information about the other is not clear," area police chief Juma Rafi told AFP.

The clashes follow the killing last week by security forces of at least nine protesters during violent demonstrations in Wau, and the discovery this week of six bodies of people from the Dinka tribe. They had been executed in the bush outside the town.

More than 100 civilians, mainly women and children, were allowed inside the camp of the U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) in Wau following the violence, said the peacekeeping mission's spokesman Kouider Zerrouk.

"Peacekeepers (have) been sent out on patrol," he said.

Stephen Robo, from the state government's Peace and Justice Commission, said gangs of youths had looted the market and set buildings on fire. He said the shooting was largely the police "trying to take control".

"People are passing in front of me with objects from the market.... It is these youth gangs that are burning the houses," he said.

"Some of the people want to try and take the law into their own hands, they want to loot the market, they want to cause havoc and chaos among the people," said state information minister Derek Alfred.

South Sudan, the world's newest nation, is awash with weapons after decades of war with Sudan, which it separated from in July 2011.

Its security forces are made up of former rebel fighters, many of whom have struggled to integrate into a well-ordered and cohesive force, despite U.N.-backed training efforts.

A peace deal was signed in 2005 to end decades of civil war in Sudan -- a key stepping stone towards South Sudan's eventual independence -- but the fledgling nation remains volatile.