At least 11 people are dead and 16 others have been injured after an attack on football fans in South Sudan, local media report.

A gunman opened fire on a crowd watching an English Premier League game near the town of Juba.

South Sudan's National Courier newspaper said the gunman had escaped despite a "prompt response" from security forces.

Police are investigating, but have not yet identified a motive.

The incident took place in Gure, a suburb of Juba, the South Sudan capital.

The city was hit by violence earlier this year as rival political factions clashed, prompting the vice-president, Riek Machar, to flee the country.</s>A fragile peace deal signed in 2015 between President Salva Kiir and former vice president Riek Machar is in tatters with a surge of violence in recent weeks. By Trevor Snapp (AFP/File)

Juba (AFP) - At least 13 people were killed when an angry football fan fired on others watching a match in a bar in South Sudan's capital Juba at the weekend, police said Monday.

Deputy police spokesman Kwacijwok Dominic Amondoc said the death toll had risen to 13 after some who were injured in the shooting during an English Premier League match on Saturday night died of their wounds.

Amondoc said 10 others were still being treated in hospital.

Among the injured was Wani Patrick, recovering from a bullet wound to his hand. "When I was shot I fell down and some youths fell on me. I was unable to stand up until he finished shooting all his bullets," he said. "Many people were shot, many people died."

The gunman, who appeared drunk, grew angry after being refused free entry to the bar where patrons had paid roughly $0.50 each to watch the Chelsea vs. Everton match on television.

The man stormed off, "but when he came back he was carrying a gun and just started shooting randomly," said Amondoc.

The incident happened at around 9:00 pm (1800 GMT) in Gure, a poor suburb in Juba's southwest.

The whereabouts of the shooter are unclear with "investigations underway", according to deputy government spokesman Paul Akol Kordit.

"It's very unfortunate and we as a government condemn this in the very strongest terms possible," said Kordit.

He pledged that the government would "pledge that we will do what we can to protect our people and bringing to book such people who are killing innocent lives with no... reason at all".

Insecurity in Juba has worsened since the start of a civil war nearly three years ago, with the widespread fighting leading to an increase in criminality and armed violence of all kinds.

In July the capital became a battleground as forces loyal to President Salva Kiir clashed with those of his former deputy turned rebel leader Riek Machar, forcing Machar to flee.

Successive rounds of internationally-backed peace talks and agreements have so far failed to bring peace to the world's newest nation, which won independence from Sudan in 2011.</s>At least 13 people were killed when an angry football fan fired on others watching a match in a bar in South Sudan's capital Juba at the weekend, police said Monday.

Deputy police spokesman Kwacijwok Dominic Amondoc said the death toll had risen to 13 after some who were injured in the shooting during an English Premier League match on Saturday night died of their wounds.

"When I was shot I fell down and some youths fell on me. I was unable to stand up until he finished shooting all his bullets," he said.

The gunman, who appeared drunk, grew angry after being refused free entry to the bar where patrons had paid roughly $0.50 each to watch the Chelsea vs Everton match on television.

The man stormed off, "but when he came back he was carrying a gun and just started shooting randomly," Amondoc said.

The whereabouts of the shooter are unclear with "investigations underway", according to deputy government spokesman Paul Akol Kordit.

"It's very unfortunate and we as a government condemn this in the very strongest terms possible," said Kordit.

He pledged that the government would "pledge that we will do what we can to protect our people and bringing to book such people who are killing innocent lives with no... reason at all".

Insecurity in Juba has worsened since the start of a civil war nearly three years ago, with the widespread fighting leading to an increase in criminality and armed violence of all kinds.

In July the capital became a battleground as forces loyal to President Salva Kiir clashed with those of his former deputy turned rebel leader Riek Machar, forcing Machar to flee.

Successive rounds of internationally-backed peace talks and agreements have so far failed to bring peace to the world's newest nation, which won independence from Sudan in 2011.</s>On Sunday, Arsenal and Tottenham played out a draw in a North London derby that could prove to have serious repercussions for the Premier League title race. But American fans had to get up early or find means to record the match and watch it in a spoiler-proofed room. Kickoff, after all, was at noon in London – 7am in New York and 4am in Los Angeles.

Ideally for American fans, the match would have aired live on the NBC Sports Network early Saturday or Sunday afternoon in the United States, but the NBC Sports Network has no input when starting times are determined before the season for matches in the first two months of the season. Two British networks, Sky Sports and BT Sport, paid an enormous amount for that privilege – understandable given that, despite the Premier League’s international reach, it is still an English product.

But even a later kickoff in New York might not have made a difference, anyway: Premier League telecasts in the US on the NBC Sports Network are down some 17% from a similar point last year.

It is a surprising number, especially since the NBC Sports Group reported in May that Premier League telecasts had captured a record number of viewers for the third straight season. New fans were attracted by the tradition and pageantry of English football, not to mention that matches are decided in about two-thirds the time of an advertisement-splotched NFL game.

Sports Media Watch reported that Premier League viewership on NBC has been lower in 35 of 49 broadcast time slots that can be compared to last year. For example, last month’s Liverpool-Crystal Palace match drew 769,000 viewers, down from the 1.2 million who had watched Arsenal-Everton in the same slot last year. (Time slots, or “windows,” are a significant factor. The first of two Premier League matches between Manchester City and Manchester United this season was played at 7am Eastern time on 10 September and drew 623,000 viewers, about 20% less than the first match between the two rivals a year ago which kicked off at 10am ET.)

NFL viewership in the US is lagging, too, by about 12%, and Premier League viewership in Britain is reported to be down by 20% this year, an even sharper decline than in the US. So the Premier League ratings decline in the US has not happened in isolation. But the two brands of football in the two countries do seem to have one thing in common.

There might be too much of them.

“It’s not the NFL, but, in my opinion, I do think that there is kind of an oversaturation,” Rick Gentile, a former CBS Sports executive producer who now runs the Seton Hall University sports poll, told the Guardian of the Premier League. “I don’t know if I’m exactly right, but it’s been shown that a degree of success encourages the powers-that-be, ‘Let’s put more in there.’ And so there’s diminishing returns.”

Of course, fans don’t need a TV to watch sports when they have access to a laptop or a phone. A spokesman for NBC Sports told the Guardian that viewership of live streaming Premier League matches carried on NBCSports.com is accounting for about 6.5%of its total audience – more than double the amount of viewers for similar events a year ago.

Last month, the Atlantic postulated that there were several factors leading to the sharp decline in NFL viewership in the US – one of them being, in all seriousness, the chaotic presidential race, which has been entertaining in its own way. But the article also pointed out that fewer younger people are watching TV, let alone cable TV, than in the old days.

So sports leagues have had to extend their reach to to grab audiences. Friday night games have been added to the Premier League schedule, and American fans have dozens of midweek European-level games, starting at afternoon Eastern time, from which to choose. Arsenal and Tottenham, for example, played Champions League games last week.

And Fox, not NBC, carries Champions League matches in the US.

“It can be like, ‘I got confused. Where’s Arsenal again?’” Gentile said. “To me, the whole European soccer phenomenon in the United States is a novelty at this point.”

There is a lot for an American sports fan, even a soccer novice, to like about a Premier League match. There is less scoring than American football or NBA, but NBC Sports mostly uses British announcers and analysts and include lots of crowd shots to capture an authentic feel. Because play is continuous, anyway, NBC can’t gum up Premier telecasts with a nonstop parade of commercials – of which many NFL viewers have grown tired. (There are usually 10 to 15 minutes of actual action in a typical 60-minute NFL game.) The timings help too – the Premier League is not competing against any of the major US sports leagues at 10am on a Saturday.

Still, Gentile, a 10-time Emmy Award winner, recalls when he worked at CBS Sports when the network televised NBA games. The NBA had little buzz and its TV ratings were stagnant, so its new commissioner, David Stern, made a momentous decision. “Stern said, ‘Let’s cut back. Make the NBA more of a rarity.’ So he did,” Gentile said. “It was a wildly successful strategy, and with Michael Jordan coming along, that didn’t hurt, either.”

The Premier League season has six months to go, and NBC is optimistic that viewership of Premier League games will jump when the NFL and college football seasons end and sports fans want to watch something athletic played on grass, sometimes in the cold rain and gathering darkness.

The favorites are back on top in the Premier League too after Leicester’s surprise win last year, and favorites tend to draw more here. Of the 15 top Premier League US telecasts before this year, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United had played in 14. Only United have struggled this season – if the season ends with a few of those teams still in close contention figures could rise again.</s>Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO) rebels have released Kenyans they detained as retaliation after Nairobi handed over their spokesman James Gatdet Dak to the Juba government.

“Following the order of our commander in chief and leader Dr Riek Machar, we have released all Kenyan nationals in our territory. They are now free to move within our territory or even go to another country,” said Goanar Gordon Yien, an SPLM-IO official in Ethiopia.

“Even though the delivery of our spokesperson to the Juba government by the Kenyan government is against the Geneva Convention, our chairman has ordered the release of all civilian Kenyans detained following that incident.

"If the Kenya government did not want our spokesman in its territory, it could have sent him to our headquarters – Pagak, instead of sending him to the Juba regime which is known for torturing and killing civilians. Or if they found him doing harm, the Kenyan government could also have [charged him in] their own court,” he said.

Mr Yien said sources had informed the SPLM-IO that Dak was still alive and urged the international community to put pressure on the Juba government to release him.

“I hope what the Kenyan government has done to our spokesperson will not happen to another person again. We value the positive role the Kenyan government has been playing to end the conflict in South Sudan and hope that it continues to do so,” he said by phone.</s>South Sudan rebels have assured Kenyans of safety in areas under their control despite earlier threats following the deportation of their spokesperson, James Gatdet Dak last week.

In an interview with The East African, Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO) representative in Kenya, LaM Jok, dismissed fears that Kenyans in rebel controlled areas are being targeted after some of them had their passports confiscated in Jongeli.

“When Dr Riek Machar heard about this incident, he immediately called all the commanders and ordered that Kenyans should not be targeted. We are currently in talks with the Kenyan government regarding the deportation and we have given assurance of the safety of Kenyans working in our territories,” Said Mr Jok.

Kenyans in rebel-held areas had been warned to stay indoors or limit their movements as Dr Machar’s movement try to plead with Nairobi to ensure that Juba does not harm Mr Dak.

Since the deportation of Mr Dak to Juba on November 3, members of SPLM-IO living in Kenya have been living in fear that the Kenya government is planning more deportations.

Kenya has since protested to the UN over the sacking maintaining that the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has its own structural shortcoming that should not be blamed on an individual.

Having all along remained neutral since the civil war broke out in December 2013, Kenya has suddenly thrown her weight behind President Salva Kiir with strong indications that the country will no longer allow SPLM-IO cadres to operate freely in the country.

“We are in Kenya with the permission of the Kenyan authorities and our safety in in the hands of the government. We have made it clear to the Kenyan authorities that we mean no harm to the country and its citizens in the areas we control,” said Mr Jok.

Elsewhere, The South Sudan Peoples Movement/Army (SPLM/A) in opposition says it has released all Kenyan nationals detained as retaliation after Nairobi handed over their spokesperson James Gatdet Dak to the Juba government.

“Following the order of our commander in chief and leader Dr Riek Machar, we have released all Kenyan nations in our territory. They are now free to move within our territory or even go to another country,” Mr Goanar Gordon Yien, the secretary in office of the Chairman and Commander in chief of SPLM/A in opposition, told the Africa Review in Ethiopia.

Mr Yien said sources had informed them that Mr Dak was still alive and urged the international community to put pressure on Juba government for his release.

“I hope what the Kenyan government has done to our spokesperson will not happen to another person again. We value the positive role the Kenyan government has been playing to end the conflict in South Sudan and hope that it continues to do so,” he said in a phone interview.</s>The Kenyan Premier League is on the homestretch. It has been a nail-biting finish, with teams at the top crossing their fingers in fear that some dark forces may deny them victory.

In 2012, the same scenario played out, and in the end, Gor Mahia faltered. Gor drew 1-1 with Thika United and lost the Cup to Tusker, who beat City Stars 3-0. It was a heartbreak for the K’Ogalo fans, and many of them shed tears.

Some young players were inconsolable, they wept bitterly on the pitch. That time, they had no one in particular to blame. They had done their part but lost to destiny. Fans opposed to the Green Army were thrilled by the results.

Well, the following season was a good one for Gor. They managed to clinch the league title after waiting for 18 years. Since then, it has been a rollercoaster ride for the club.

More often than not, there has been belief in the Gor camp that the title belongs to them. Although the fans were pleased, sometimes they became a bit restless and caused trouble. This put Gor in bad books with football managers.

The same can be said of AFC Leopards’ fans. They were also hotheaded and caused mayhem in some matches. Points were docked from the two clubs because of crowd trouble. They appealed to the relevant bodies but failed to have the ruling overturned.

Gor and Leopards are the most successful sides in the country. They have a large following of exuberant fans. One would think these fans are a blessing to them.

Surprisingly, it is the same fans who pull down the teams! If Gor Mahia fans had behaved themselves during the first leg match against Tusker, K’Ogalo would not have lost key points.

We need to take into consideration the fact that the docking of the points must have demoralised the playing unit and contributed to the dismal performance of Ingwe.

At the moment, Leopards seem to be more focused on the next season. The entire technical bench was kicked away and the new manager, Stewart Hall, is already laying ground for the new season. We do wish them well.

These clubs lack the capacity to control the goons in their midst. It is a difficult task to separate the grain from the chaff. Officials cannot arbitrarily ban fans, because they do not know them personally.

They lack the capacity to employ enough stewards to help maintain order during their matches. We can list so many other problems, but in the end, it all boils down to the fans.

While the docking of points is harsh, it serves as a reminder to unruly fans that hooliganism will not be tolerated. True football fans go to the stadium because of their love for the beautiful game and are put off by violence.

It is an open secret that it takes just a few bad eggs to stop a match with stones. The photo of a fan assaulting a match official during a past Gor match against Tusker match was very disgusting, to say the least.

That mindless fellow may have received high fives from his fellow goons in the urinal, but we do hope that reality dawns on him that his actions cost his team the title.
At least 11 people are killed and 16 others are injured after a gunman opens fire on football fans watching an English Premier League game near Juba, South Sudan.