South Sudan militia leader flees hideout - army

George Athor launched a rebellion after failing to win Jonglei's governorship in April elections, accusing the south's dominant party the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) of rigging the vote.

Last month Athor said he was coordinating attacks with two other militia leaders in Jonglei and neighbouring Unity state, raising fears for the stability of the region in the run up to a potentially explosive secession referendum due in January 2011.

There have been reports of scattered attacks but so far the rebellions have not coalesced into a large uprising.

Southern Army (SPLA) spokesman Kuol Diem Kuol said troops attacked Athor's hideout in Wunlam village in Jonglei's Khorfulus county on Monday night, acting on a tipoff from one of the militia leader's men captured in an earlier raid.

"He is running with less than 30 soldiers. They are his close relatives from the village ... Our forces are now pursuing him. We expect his capture within days," said Kuol, adding the SPLA had captured 13 of Athor's men and his radio equipment.

Kuol denied reports in Khartoum newspapers of clashes with Athor on Tuesday. Athor did not answer calls on Wednesday.

Last week the SPLA said it chased militia commander Galwak Gai out of his base in Unity state, which includes oilfields operated by the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC), a consortium led by China's CNPC. French group Total holds a largely unexplored oil concession in Jonglei.

South Sudan secured a referendum on whether to stay in Sudan or split off as a separate country in a 2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades of civil war with the north. Analysts say southerners overwhelming want to secede.

Southern leaders have said Khartoum is backing militias to destabilise the south, an accusation denied by the north.

(Reporting by Andrew Heavens)