[44] On 2 December, the SPLM-IO reportedly attacked government units at Busseri and Firka, causing the SPLA to send reinforcements to these area, which were in turn ambushed and defeated by the rebels.

[46] At the same time, Human Rights Watch reported that the newly deployed government soldiers, mostly Dinka, began to abuse the local Fertit population, forcing tens of thousands to flee Wau.

[29] At the same time, the SPLA soldiers were accused by the opposition of intensifying their abuses of Fertit civilians, while reportedly working together with local Dinka militants and armed cattle herders in their attacks.

[16][48] At least 8 SPLA soldiers were killed,[1] while Raga town in the neighbouring Lol State was overrun by rebels for a short time, resulting in the death of several bodyguards of the local governor.

[13] However, opposition groups claimed that the army soon began to plunder the state capital, and to assault the civilian population, leading Governor Waya to criticise the soldiers.

[28] According to independent and opposition sources, as army soldiers and Dinka militias intensified their attacks on the town's Fertit population, many locals picked up arms and began to fight the pro-government forces.

[3][17] Independent and opposition sources claim that the assailants belonged to a pro-Fertit, SPLM-IO-linked tribal militia,[31][17] while the government said they were part of the "Islamic Movement for Liberation of Raja".

[3] This group, government spokesman Makuei Lueth further claimed, wanted establish an Islamic state in the region, but also included members of the Christian Lord's Resistance Army.

[69] On 6 August, peace talks between the local opposition and the governor were held, though the situation in the state remained volatile, with civilians being displaced[70] or unlawfully arrested by SPLA soldiers.

Governor Mayan attempted to ease tensions by negotiating the release of fifty prisoners in October, and including local religious authorities in the peace talks.

[75] Between 9 and 11 September, clashes once again broke out west of Wau town, as the SPLM-IO claimed that the peace talks had failed, and the government forces had launched a major attack on their positions.

[79] Just three days later, the SPLA and allied militias launched another attack against SPLM-IO positions, which led to heavy fighting around Wau town, Baggari, Bringi, Busseri, and Bazia that lasted until 25 September.

[86] Even though the governor continued to urge the local rebels to join Taban Deng Gai's faction and end their insurgency, his pleas were rejected by the SPLM-IO spokesman for Wau, Nicola Gabriel Adam.

Gabriel claimed that Taban Deng Gai had become part of the government they were fighting, while accusing the army of being the aggressor in this conflict, saying that the SPLA had just recently attacked SPLM-IO forces near Bringi.

[85] On 20 January, heavy fighting broke out at Khor Natabu along the Bringi-Wau road, as SPLA-allied Dinka pastoralists from Tonj State attacked local opposition-affiliated Luo farmers.

[7] Also in January 2017, Lt. Col. al-Fadil Meil Issa, a member of the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring Mechanism (CTSAMM) in Wau, was brutally murdered by unknown assailants.

[93] On 9 March 2017, a leading SPLM-IO commander in Wau State, General Faiz Ismail Fatur, announced that he was defecting to the National Salvation Front (NAS), a newly formed rebel group.

According to him, the group lacked both a proper vision as well as capable leadership, and suffered from organizational chaos, saying that "the [rebel] army is curtailed by officers without assignments, shamefully, at places, you find a brigadier leading a squad".

[98] On 4 April, the strengthened SPLA forces initiated a large-scale offensive against SPLM-IO positions in the areas around Bisellia, Baggari, Bazia, and Kuajiena, resulting in fierce fighting.

[26][24] In revenge for the ambush,[98] SPLA soldiers and pro-government Dinka militiamen belonging to Mathiang Anyoor began a rampage in Wau town and surrounding villages, murdering and robbing non-Dinkas.

[27][98] Locals said that those targeted by the pro-government fighters mostly belonged to the Fertit, Luo, Jur Modo/Jur Beli, Balanda Boor/Balanda Bviri ethnic groups, which were believed by the assailants to support the rebels.

[99][109][110] As the situation in Wau State and other areas of Western Bahr el Ghazal escalated, SPLA chief of staff Paul Malong Awan was ordered to take command of the operations in the region around 15 April,[20] though Kiir dismissed him in early May.

[116] On 3 August, the newly appointed operations commander of the government forces in Wau, Mathok Akec, died of food poisoning,[25] though this was disputed by a local doctor, according to whom sigmoid colon volvulus was the actual cause of death.

[12] The reasons for the worsening famine in the countryside, especially in Bisselia County, are disputed: Whereas the government maintained that the security situation in Wau State had improved and blamed the lack of humanitarian support,[118] the opposition argued that the famine was part of a deliberate government strategy to starve dissidents in the Baggari, Bisselia, Kpaile, Kawajina, and Udici Counties into submission by disturbing farmers and hindering the work of NGOs.

[138] In January 2018, it was discovered that former SPLA Chief of General Staff Paul Malong Awan planned his own rebellion against the government, and had begun to organize an attack of associates on Wau airport.

[23] Despite initially denying his involvement in any plan to attack Wau,[139] Malong later openly rebelled and started a new insurgent group, the "South Sudan United Front" (SS-UF).

[150][151][152] The SPLA offensive continued unabated in the next months, resulting in clashes at Baggari, Bringi, Basselia, Mboro, Farajalla, Ngisa, Ngo Dakalla, Wad Alel, and along the Jur River.

[144] In September 2018, the South Sudanese government and Riek Machar's SPLM-IO faction signed a peace deal, resulting in the gradual cessation of hostilities between the two sides.

Both Brigadier General Peter Ngoli, head of SPLA-IO operations in Besselia region, and SPLA commander Joshua Konyi signalled the readiness of their forces to adhere to the peace deal.

Confidence-building efforts by the NGOs Saferworld and the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) helped to generate new trust, child soldiers were demobilized, and the military encouraged troops to behave properly.