On August 3rd the National Salvation Front (NSF) , the paper-thin rebellion led by General Thomas Cirillo , issued an angry communique reproaching SPLM/IO for “attacking its forces under Lt. Gen. John Kenyi Lo Buron ………which was triggered by Lt. Gen . Lo Buron’s exercise of his inalienbale right to choose to join NSF”. This is typical of the growing confusion affecting teh South Sudan rebellion . Kenyi Lo Buron was the key commander of SPLM/IO in Central Equatoria ; he is a Pojulu by tribe but the vast majority (in fact the quasi totality) of SPLM/IO forces in Central Equatoria are Kakwa . At the beginning of the month , from his place of house arrest in South Africa , Riak carried out a re-shuffling of his forces in the Equatorias and he bypassed Lo Buron in favour of a Kakwa . Lo Buron then tried to uplift the armament under his control . But his own soldiers mutinied against him and took back the equipment from their “leader” who then promptly defected to NSF , in the hope he could use that switch to keep control of his guns . This failed and he had to run away northwards towards Moru territory . This fighting is typical of the continued disagregation of forces in the opposition . When the Juba troops took Maiwut and later Pagak , it marked new bouts of fighting between pro and anti government Nuer . The same splits marked the rebel counter-attacks on the same sites . These rebels splits do not mean that the government is more united : many of the Matyang Anyoor militias deserted the government troops and returned to Bahr-el-Ghazal when General Paul Malong was recently arrested and detained . Actually the military situation in South Sudan is progressively growing as intricate as the political one.

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