Western Equatoria state condemns South Sudan army crackdown
July 1, 2015 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s Western Equatoria state government on Wednesday issued a strong worded statement, condemning the ongoing military activities and crackdown in Mundri West and Maridi counties by forces of the South Sudan army (SPLA), warning that this might spread the conflict.
“Western Equatoria [state] government condemns this brutal tactics of solving problems as one which will just alienate the population and increase insecurity and violence at a time when we should have been preparing to celebrate our fourth anniversary [of independence] and reduce the spread of violence to other peaceful areas of South Sudan,” Kisanga said.
“Why would we like to destroy the whole country before we can achieve peace or would we really be trying to contain violence to where it already occurred so that at least the cost of building this country is minimal afterwards?,” he inquired.
The state official asked the national government and the military leadership at the general headquarters to immediately withdraw “brutalizing force” from the areas affected by the military activities in the state.
All innocent detained youth, he said, should be freed and SPLA should only go after rebels and their camps if at all they were in Western Equatoria state, because “rebels have bases” and not picking innocent youths from their homes.
He attributed the cause of the current unrest in the state to the events that ensued in Maridi and Mundi counties as the result of the tension between the two groups. He accused pastoralists from neighbouring states in the area of allegedly having been allowing their cows to go to the fields and eat up growing plantations.
He also denied that members of the state youth group threw grenade on a cattle camp which triggered fighting last month.
“Indeed there was a grenade attack on a cattle camp at night. However it could have been also someone from the cattle raiders as they often fight one another to settle some previous scores,” he added.
However the cattle raiders supported by some elements from the SPLA, on ethnic basis, took their revenge on the local population whereby town centre areas and settlement on Maridi-Rumbek road was vandalized and looted and up to 11 civilians killed.
In reaction to this “barbaric act”, he further pointed out, some youth organized themselves to face off the marauding raiders who targeted even government officials as well as trying to assassinate the commissioner of the town, Wilson Thomas, whose house was sprayed by bullets with intention of killing him if he did not flee his house.
He said the house of the political advisor was vandalized and looted when the SPLA was in the neighbourhood, he explained.
Government officials said rebellion was emerging in Western Equatoria state, prompting deployment of forces in the area.
(ST)