S. Sudan rebels claim capture of refinery, demand evacuation at nearby key oilfields

South Sudan rebels said on Tuesday they have captured an oil refinery near a major oil field in Upper Nile State, and demanded oil firms suspend their operation and evacuate the staff.

"Our forces are still fighting the government forces at the area where lies Paloch oil field, the biggest in Upper Nile State", James Gatdet, spokesman for South Sudan rebels, led by former Vice President Riek Machar, said in a statement Tuesday.

"We urge the oil companies operating at the area to cease their activities and evacuate their staff for their safety. This is an urgent matter," he added.

The spokesman said they are still trying to grab the oil fields so as to prevent South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and his forces from using the oil revenues to prolong the war.

The seized refinery lies some 10 km from the main Paloch oil fields in Upper Nile State.

A number of foreign oil companies are operating in the oil industry in South Sudan including China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), India's ONGC Videsh Ltd and Petronas of Malaysia.

South Sudan, which became independent in 2011, plunged into violence in December 2013, when fighting erupted between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and defectors headed by his former deputy Riek Machar.

The conflict soon turned into an all-out war, with violence taking on an ethnic dimension that pitted the president's Dinka tribe against Machar's Nuer ethnic group.

The clashes have left thousands of South Sudanese dead and forced around 1.9 million people to flee their homes. Enditem