Marabou Storks and vultures feast on the bodies of killed UPDF soldiers in South Sudan. The exact number of Ugandan soldiers so far killed in a foreign land, while fighting to protect the interests of president Salva Kiir from getting toppled by indigenous South Sudanese is over 700. And even as the death toll of UPDF soldiers continues to rise in South Sudan, the question of how many exactly so far have been sent to their unnatural deaths, remains unanswered by the the government of Uganda.

On January 20^th 2014 alone, the South Sudan armed rebels loyal to former Vice President Dr Riek Machar recaptured the strategic town of Bor, the capital of Jonglei State after a fierce fighting with thw South Sudan Government forces and two battalions of Ugandan forces also known as UPDF. The fight started on the morning of January 20^th, after the rebels allowed the government and UPDF forces to advance to the town and capture it a day before January 20th. The government forces stayed on overnight while the rebels continued to complete what they called “Tactical Withdrawal.”

The South Sudan rebel forces told us that more than 700 soldiers, most of them UPDF were killed in the government and UPDF side while uncounted number drowned in the river. Efforts to get a comment from the South Sudan government army Spokesman Philip Aguer were futile by press time. But the rebel sources insist that since the war started Uganda has lost over five tanks and over 1000 soldiers. Pictures indicating the bodies of dead UPDF and Salva Kiir soldiers are going to be posteed in due course.

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