Forces loyal to suspended opposition leader Riek Machar have recaptured the strategic town of Akobo (a key settlement in South Sudan's Jonglei State) from government troops, just one month after losing it. According to SPLA-IO (Machar's armed movement) spokesman Colonel Lam Paul Gabriel, the assault began at 5:30 a.m. on Monday and lasted only fifty minutes, with opposition fighters — aided by a local militia — seizing military vehicles and inflicting significant casualties. The swift reversal is a sharp embarrassment for President Salva Kiir's government, which had only days earlier promised residents and aid organisations that Akobo was stable and safe for return.