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South Sudan rebels accuse government of violating new cease-fire

Associated Press
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Nhail Deng Nhail, 2nd left, the head of South Sudan's negotiating team, and top negotiator for the rebel's side, Taban Deng Gai, right, a general in South Sudan's army before he defected, sign a cessation of hostilities agreement in front of mediator Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom, center, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Thursday, Jan. 23, 2014. South Sudan's government and rebels fighting against it have signed Thursday a cessation of hostilities agreement in Addis Ababa that should at the least put a pause to five weeks of warfare that has claimed thousands of lives and uprooted a half million people since fighting began Dec. 15 between the government and supporters of former Vice President Riek Machar. (AP Photo/Elias Asmare) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014 file photo, displaced people who fled the recent fighting between government and rebel forces in Bor by boat across the White Nile, prepare to sleep in the open at night in the town of Awerial, South Sudan. South Sudan's government and rebels fighting against it have signed Thursday, Jan. 23, 2014 a cessation of hostilities agreement in Addis Ababa that should at the least put a pause to five weeks of warfare that has claimed thousands of lives and uprooted a half million people since fighting began Dec. 15 between the government and supporters of former Vice President Riek Machar. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File) (The Associated Press)

Rebels in South Sudan say government forces are attacking their positions, one day after a cease-fire was signed.

Brig. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang, a spokesman for the opposition, said Friday that government forces were attacking rebel positions in oil-rich Unity state and in Jonglei state.

Koang called the attacks a "clear violation" of the peace deal signed in Ethiopia on Thursday. He said rebel forces would defend themselves against attacks.

In South Sudan, military spokesman Col. Philip Aguer said he is not aware of any new violence but said there was fighting in Jonglei on Thursday. Aguer said if new fighting has occurred "it is because rebels have attacked" government soldiers.

Fighting broke out on Dec. 15 in the world's newest country, killing thousands of people.