Tens of thousands of South Sudanese are fleeing their homes after inter-ethnic clashes around the town of Pibor.
The UN is warning villagers to run for their lives as some 6,000 fighters advance on their ethnic rivals.
Fighters from the Lou Nuer ethnic group are pursuing members of the Murle community, reports say, as a deadly vendetta over cattle raiding continues.
A UN official told the BBC that peacekeepers and government troops are heavily outnumbered.
The government is sending additional police and troops in a bid to quell the violence.
About 1,000 people have been killed in recent months as reprisal attacks over cattle raids have escalated.
Tens of thousands of Murle fled Pibor after it came under attack from the Lou Nuer on Saturday.
BBC East Africa correspondent Will Ross says the Lou Nuer are attacking villages and burning homes and that it could take a week for the Murle to walk to an area of safety.
Deputy UN deputy humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan Lise Grande told the BBC that several hundred UN peacekeepers and government troops were "far outnumbered" by about 6,000 Lou Nuer fighters.
"Several flanks of the attackers have moved in a south-easterly direction [from Pibor], almost certainly looking for cattle," she said.
She said the main part of Pibor had been held but that a clinic belonging to the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) had been "overtaken".
Ms Grande said the UN was tracking the movement of the Lou Nuer and warning others in their path to "disperse into the bush for their safety".
'Mother and sister missing'
Our correspondent says many of the Lou Nuer fighters were now believed to be in pursuit of the Murle who had fled Pibor.
The BBC has learnt that some of the displaced - mainly women, children and the elderly - have been killed although it has not been possible to verify how many.
A resident of Pibor who fled to the capital Juba told the BBC that the Lou Nuer were still occupying parts of the town.
Continue reading the main story
Audio slideshow: Cattle country
"The UN troops are there but they are not fighting the fighters who entered the town," said Rev Orozu Lokine Daky of Pibor's Presbyterian Church.
"They are just trying to protect the city centre only, the rest of the town is now under [the control of] the fighters.
"The situation is deteriorating. My own mother and my own sister are now missing. I don't know where they are. I assume they are dead," he added.
South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has called on the Lou Nuer to stop their advance and return to their traditional areas.
The government said it was deploying more troops and an additional 2,000 police to Pibor.
Military spokesman Col Philip Aguer said on Sunday: "The 2,000 police are being sent within the next 24 hours. Troops will be deployed as soon as possible."
MSF said it had lost contact with some 130 of its staff in Pibor and was "extremely worried" about their safety.
The MSF workers were believed to have fled into the bush when Pibor came under attack.
The medical charity's head in the country, Parthesarathy Rajendran, told the BBC they had only been able to get in touch with 13 members of the MSF team in the town.
The Lou Nuer fighters have arrived in Pibor after marching through Jonglei state in recent weeks, setting fire to homes and seizing livestock.
The entire town of Lukangol was burnt to the ground last week. About 20,000 civilians managed to flee before the attack, but dozens were killed on both sides.
The governor of Jonglei state and the vice-president of South Sudan have been trying to mediate between the rival ethnic groups.
South Sudan became independent on 9 July 2011 following decades of civil war with the north.
One legacy of the conflict is that the region is still flooded with weapons.
These are now being used in ethnic power-struggles, which often focus on cattle because of the central role they play in many South Sudanese communities.
From BBC
Monday, January 2, 2012
Police: Park gunman may have fled to area to hide
MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Wash. (AP) — Police officers with dogs trudged across the frigid, snow-covered slopes of Mount Rainier National Park Monday in their hunt for an armed Iraq War veteran suspected in the killing of a park ranger.
Authorities also dispatched teams to reach and evacuate three groups of campers in the backcountry who may be unaware about the search for Benjamin Colton Barnes, 24, wanted in the Sunday morning killing of Margaret Anderson.
Law enforcement officials are particularly concerned about a group near where the gunman may travel.
Barnes, who is believed to have survivalist skills, is also a suspect in a 3 a.m. New Year's Day shooting at a house party near Seattle that left four people wounded, two critically.
"The speculation is he threw some stuff in the car and headed up here to hide out," parks spokesman Kevin Bacher said.
Bacher wouldn't guess whether Barnes survived the night in snowy, cold conditions as officers tried to track him down using planes, dogs, trackers in snowshoes and an aircraft with heat-sensing capabilities.
With the proper gear and training, he said, it was possible for someone to survive.
"It can be very deadly if you're unprepared," he said. "Somebody who knows what they're doing out there could certainly survive the night. If he had those skills and had some of that gear, he could be very comfortable.
"I don't think any of us would be sorry if he was not in a condition to fire on our searchers," he said.
Barnes has had a troubled transition to civilian life, with accusations he suffers post-traumatic stress disorder and is suicidal.
Barnes was involved in a custody dispute in Tacoma in July, during which his toddler daughter's mother sought a temporary restraining order against him, according to court documents.
The woman told authorities he was suicidal and possibly suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after deploying to Iraq in 2007-2008, and had once sent her a text message saying "I want to die."
She alleged that he gets easily irritated, angry and depressed and keeps an arsenal of weapons in his home. She wrote that she feared for the child's safety.
Undated photos provided by police showed a shirtless, tattooed Barnes brandishing two weapons, a large rifle and a smaller firearm with a large clip.
In November 2011, a guardian ad litem recommended parenting and communication classes for both parents and recommending Barnes be allowed to continue supervised visits with the child, two days a week.
That visitation schedule was to continue until he completed a domestic violence evaluation and mental health evaluation and complied with all treatment recommendations.
On New Year's, there was an argument at a house party in Skyway, south of Seattle, and gunfire erupted, police said. Barnes was connected to the shooting, said Sgt. Cindi West, King County Sheriff's spokeswoman.
Two of the three people who fled the scene were located. West said authorities were trying to find Barnes and had been in contact with his family to ask them to convince him to step forward and "tell his side of the story."
At Mount Rainier around 10:20 a.m. Sunday, the gunman had sped past a checkpoint to make sure vehicles have tire chains, which are sometimes necessary in snowy conditions, Bacher said.
One ranger began following him while Anderson, a 34-year-old mother of two young children who was married to another Mount Rainier park ranger, eventually blocked the road to stop the driver.
Before fleeing, the gunman fired shots at both Anderson and the ranger that trailed him, but only Anderson was hit.
Anderson would have been armed, as she was one of the rangers tasked with law enforcement, Bacher said. Pierce Co. Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said she was shot before she had even got out of the vehicle.
About 150 officers, including from the Washington State Patrol, U.S. Forest Service and FBI, were on the mountain Sunday.
Tactical responders wearing crampons and snowshoes pursued what appeared to be the gunman's tracks in the snow, Troyer said. Those tracks went into creeks and other waterways, making it more difficult for crews to follow.
"He's intentionally trying to get out of the snow," Troyer said.
Authorities recovered his vehicle, which had weapons and body armor inside, Troyer said.
About 125 people slept overnight at the visitors center amid fears that they could be hurt as they manhunt unfolded. In the middle of the night, authorities evacuated them over several hours, Troyer said.
Evacuee Dinh Jackson, a mother who came to the mountain to sled with family and friends, said officials ordered people to hurry into the lodge after the shooting.
Jackson said officials had everyone get on their knees and place hands behind their heads as they went through the building, looking at faces to make sure the gunman was not among them.
"That was scary for the kids," she said.
Michael Wall, an elementary school teacher, spent the morning hiking with his son. They didn't find out about the violence until returning.
Wall said he was impressed by how staff members and visitors kept each other comfortable with food and conversation.
"It was calm, cool, easygoing," Wall said. "I didn't notice any tenseness or terseness."
The park would remain closed Monday.
Park superintendent Randy King said Anderson had served as a park ranger for about four years. King said Anderson's husband also was working as a ranger elsewhere in the park at the time of the shooting.
"It's just a huge tragedy — for the family, the park and the park service," he said.
Adam Norton, a neighbor of Anderson's in the small town of Eatonville, said the ranger's family moved in about a year ago. He said they were not around much, but when they were, Norton would see Anderson outside with her girls.
"They just seemed like the perfect family," he said.
The shooting renewed debate about a federal law that made it legal for people to take loaded weapons into Mount Rainier. The 2010 law made possession of firearms in national parks subject to state gun laws.
Bill Wade, the outgoing chair of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, said Congress should be regretting its decision to allow loaded weapons in national parks.
He called Sunday's fatal shooting a tragedy that could have been prevented. He hopes Congress will reconsider the law that took effect in early 2010, but doubts that will happen in today's political climate.
____
Associated Press writer Donna Gordon Blankinship contributed from Seattle.
Authorities also dispatched teams to reach and evacuate three groups of campers in the backcountry who may be unaware about the search for Benjamin Colton Barnes, 24, wanted in the Sunday morning killing of Margaret Anderson.
Law enforcement officials are particularly concerned about a group near where the gunman may travel.
Barnes, who is believed to have survivalist skills, is also a suspect in a 3 a.m. New Year's Day shooting at a house party near Seattle that left four people wounded, two critically.
"The speculation is he threw some stuff in the car and headed up here to hide out," parks spokesman Kevin Bacher said.
Bacher wouldn't guess whether Barnes survived the night in snowy, cold conditions as officers tried to track him down using planes, dogs, trackers in snowshoes and an aircraft with heat-sensing capabilities.
With the proper gear and training, he said, it was possible for someone to survive.
"It can be very deadly if you're unprepared," he said. "Somebody who knows what they're doing out there could certainly survive the night. If he had those skills and had some of that gear, he could be very comfortable.
"I don't think any of us would be sorry if he was not in a condition to fire on our searchers," he said.
Barnes has had a troubled transition to civilian life, with accusations he suffers post-traumatic stress disorder and is suicidal.
Barnes was involved in a custody dispute in Tacoma in July, during which his toddler daughter's mother sought a temporary restraining order against him, according to court documents.
The woman told authorities he was suicidal and possibly suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after deploying to Iraq in 2007-2008, and had once sent her a text message saying "I want to die."
She alleged that he gets easily irritated, angry and depressed and keeps an arsenal of weapons in his home. She wrote that she feared for the child's safety.
Undated photos provided by police showed a shirtless, tattooed Barnes brandishing two weapons, a large rifle and a smaller firearm with a large clip.
In November 2011, a guardian ad litem recommended parenting and communication classes for both parents and recommending Barnes be allowed to continue supervised visits with the child, two days a week.
That visitation schedule was to continue until he completed a domestic violence evaluation and mental health evaluation and complied with all treatment recommendations.
On New Year's, there was an argument at a house party in Skyway, south of Seattle, and gunfire erupted, police said. Barnes was connected to the shooting, said Sgt. Cindi West, King County Sheriff's spokeswoman.
Two of the three people who fled the scene were located. West said authorities were trying to find Barnes and had been in contact with his family to ask them to convince him to step forward and "tell his side of the story."
At Mount Rainier around 10:20 a.m. Sunday, the gunman had sped past a checkpoint to make sure vehicles have tire chains, which are sometimes necessary in snowy conditions, Bacher said.
One ranger began following him while Anderson, a 34-year-old mother of two young children who was married to another Mount Rainier park ranger, eventually blocked the road to stop the driver.
Before fleeing, the gunman fired shots at both Anderson and the ranger that trailed him, but only Anderson was hit.
Anderson would have been armed, as she was one of the rangers tasked with law enforcement, Bacher said. Pierce Co. Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said she was shot before she had even got out of the vehicle.
About 150 officers, including from the Washington State Patrol, U.S. Forest Service and FBI, were on the mountain Sunday.
Tactical responders wearing crampons and snowshoes pursued what appeared to be the gunman's tracks in the snow, Troyer said. Those tracks went into creeks and other waterways, making it more difficult for crews to follow.
"He's intentionally trying to get out of the snow," Troyer said.
Authorities recovered his vehicle, which had weapons and body armor inside, Troyer said.
About 125 people slept overnight at the visitors center amid fears that they could be hurt as they manhunt unfolded. In the middle of the night, authorities evacuated them over several hours, Troyer said.
Evacuee Dinh Jackson, a mother who came to the mountain to sled with family and friends, said officials ordered people to hurry into the lodge after the shooting.
Jackson said officials had everyone get on their knees and place hands behind their heads as they went through the building, looking at faces to make sure the gunman was not among them.
"That was scary for the kids," she said.
Michael Wall, an elementary school teacher, spent the morning hiking with his son. They didn't find out about the violence until returning.
Wall said he was impressed by how staff members and visitors kept each other comfortable with food and conversation.
"It was calm, cool, easygoing," Wall said. "I didn't notice any tenseness or terseness."
The park would remain closed Monday.
Park superintendent Randy King said Anderson had served as a park ranger for about four years. King said Anderson's husband also was working as a ranger elsewhere in the park at the time of the shooting.
"It's just a huge tragedy — for the family, the park and the park service," he said.
Adam Norton, a neighbor of Anderson's in the small town of Eatonville, said the ranger's family moved in about a year ago. He said they were not around much, but when they were, Norton would see Anderson outside with her girls.
"They just seemed like the perfect family," he said.
The shooting renewed debate about a federal law that made it legal for people to take loaded weapons into Mount Rainier. The 2010 law made possession of firearms in national parks subject to state gun laws.
Bill Wade, the outgoing chair of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, said Congress should be regretting its decision to allow loaded weapons in national parks.
He called Sunday's fatal shooting a tragedy that could have been prevented. He hopes Congress will reconsider the law that took effect in early 2010, but doubts that will happen in today's political climate.
____
Associated Press writer Donna Gordon Blankinship contributed from Seattle.
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