South Sudan admits it downed U.N. helicopter, killing four

(Reuters) - South Sudan's army shot down a United Nations peacekeeping

helicopter in the restive Jonglei state on Friday, killing the four Russian
crew members onboard, U.N. and military officials said.


A U.N. source said the helicopter was on a reconnaissance mission in an area
where the SPLA, South Sudan's army, has been fighting rebels led by David
Yau Yau.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the attack on the
"clearly marked" helicopter and in a statement called "on the government of
South Sudan to immediately carry out an investigation and bring to account
those responsible for this act."



He demanded measures be put in place to prevent any further incidents in

South Sudan, where the U.N. mission known as UNMISS, was created after it

seceded from Sudan in July 2011.



South Sudan's army first denied it had shot down the Russian helicopter but

later said it had mistaken it for a Sudanese plane supplying Yau Yau rebels

in Jonglei.



"We regret the incident," army spokesman Philip Aguer said, adding an

artillery unit had spotted a plane landing in an area where Yau Yau forces

were operating.



"We saw a white plane landing and asked UNMISS whether they had any flight

in the area but they denied it. The army opened fire because it thought it

was an enemy plane supplying Yau Yau with weapons." he said. "We later heard

UNMISS had a flight there. They should have informed us."



HIGH RISK



South Sudan often accuses Sudan of airdropping weapons to rebels in Jonglei.



Russia's Itar-tass news agency quoted a source at the Russian embassy in

South Sudan as saying the Mi-8 helicopter owned by Nizhnevartovskavia was

working under a U.N. contract when it was downed.



Earlier this year, Russia said it

would withdraw helicopters and personnel servicing the U.N. mission in South

Sudan after voicing alarm at attacks on U.N. helicopters there.



In September, South Sudanese soldiers killed at least 10 troops when they

shot and sank one of their own military riverboats in a remote region after

mistaking it for an enemy craft, the army said.



South Sudan has been struggling since independence to build up state

institutions in a country awash with weapons after decades of civil war with

Khartoum ended with a 2005 peace agreement.



Human rights groups often accuse the SPLA, a loose group of former

guerillas, of human rights violations and abuses. The army denies this.



Yau Yau, a former theology student, heads one of several militias fighting

the government which accuses Sudan of supporting them. Sudan denies this.



A shortwave radio station with links to the Yau Yau rebellion earlier this

year said the group was fighting the government in reaction to abuses

committed during the disarmament program.



(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau, Michelle Nichols, Ulf Laessing and the

Moscow bureau; Editing by Sophie Hares)