South Sudan’s rebels want oil firms still operating in the country to shut down as “a matter of urgency” due to violence. On Tuesday evening, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in opposition and allied groups under former Vice President Riek Machar said the firms should leave the Upper Nile region immediately.

“In response to the government’s full scale offensive on our positions in the three states of greater Upper Nile region, we have decided to take control of the oilfields and … (prevent) Salva Kiir from using the oil revenues to perpetuate the war,” James Gatdet Dak, the rebels' spokesman said. “SPLM/SPLA leadership has asked all oil companies operating in Upper Nile state to shut down their operations and evacuate their staff immediately. We also ask them to do the process of closing down in a safe manner that will not damage the oil facilities and cause environmental damage.”...

Upper Nile is South Sudan’s only remaining crude-producing state following the violence that has rocked the country for more than a year. China National Petroleum Corp., India’s Oil & Natural Gas Corp. and Petroliam Nasional Bhd, the oil companies operating in the neighbouring Unity State, had earlier shut and moved their employees.