Johnson Olony’s forces prefer independent command in Upper Nile state
May 17, 2015 (JUBA) – Johnson Olony’s rebel group, which carried out a joint attack on Malakal with the SPLM-n opposition, said they wanted to run their affairs independently from others in Upper Nile state.
However, Brigadier General Nyagwal Ajak Deng, further said they will work in collaboration with other opposition forces such as the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) led by former vice president, Riek Machar.
“Agwelek forces under command of Gen J. Olony and other senior officers will operate as independent forces in Upper Nile state but we will be ready to work together with other opposition forces fighting tribal government of Salva Kiir for change for better South Sudan free of tribal hatred, ethnic cleansing like the one Collo Kingdom is facing now since 2005 from inspection of CPA planned by Dinka Padang using president Salva Kiir,” partly reads the statement.
Deng said the five-day late press statement could not reach the media on time due to “logistical” challenges until on Sunday when Mabior Garang de Mabior, chairman for information and public relations committee in the SPLM-IO helped to distribute to the media the contacts of the Olony’s spokesperson and urged media houses to contact him.
In the six-page long press statement Brigadier Ajak Deng narrated events leading to the end of alliance with president Kiir’s government, largely blaming it on the Padang Dinka group, which he said were being used by the government to assassinate and fight members of the Shilluk community in Upper Nile state.
A joint force composed of Gen Olony’s group and rebel forces from Machar’s SPLM-IO recapture the state capital on Saturday, dislodging the government’s troops from the area.
This came after attempts to resolve the misunderstandings between the government and the Shilluk militia group failed after the first incident on 22 April due to mistrust.
Following the clashes in Malakal late April, a tentative agreement was reached in which government forces were stationed in northern part of Malakal while Olony’s forces were moved to the southern part of the town where he was reinforcing from the SPLA-IO until Friday when the two forces clashed.
While government was trying to persuade Olony to travel to Juba and reinforcing its troops in the northern part of the town, Olony was also in contact with Machar to reinforce his troops in the southern part of Malakal.
It is however unclear whether the two forces who jointly control Malakal and other towns will now separate to leave the ethnic Shilluk forces, or together with Machar’s forces in the area, under independent command of General Olony.
Sources from Machar’s group previously said General Olony had become one of their senior commanders and was in charge of the overall command of the joint forces that took over Malakal.
“From our direct contacts with him, General Olony has defected to us, and we share with him objectives, but we recognize that he is in charge of the overall command in the area,” a senior rebel official told Sudan Tribune on Sunday.
He said they understood the feeling from the Shilluk community that they wanted a “decree of independence” and that was the reason the leadership of the SPLM-IO last year created Fashoda state for the Shilluk kingdom and appointed former presidential advisor on religious affairs, Tijwog Aguet, a Shilluk, as governor.
The official further said they have credible information that other Shilluk officials including General Oyai Deng Ajak, from the former detainees, or G-10, have been encouraging General Johnson Olony to separately command the Shilluk militia group in the land of the Shilluk kingdom and not integrate them into the SPLM-IO to avoid redeployments to other non-Shilluk areas.
He said SPLM-IO also understood that some other officials wanted to use Olony’s forces as a “bargaining chip” for future political and administrative matters.
(ST)