UN sanctions will not affect military operations against rebels : officials
July 2, 2015 (JUBA) – South Sudanese government has downplayed the United Nations (UN) sanctions imposed on its top military generals as “unwise”, saying this will not affect the performance of the South Sudanese army (SPLA) to continue with the war against opposition forces in “defence” of the country’s transitional constitution. Armed opposition faction also said they were only in “self-defence.”
Major-Gen. Marial Chanuong Yol Mangok, commander of president Salva Kiir’s presidential guard, Lt. Gen. Gabriel Jok Riak, whose forces are fighting in Unity state and Major-Gen. Santino Deng Wol, who led an offensive through Unity state in May in which several people died were affected from the government’s side. On the armed opposition side, the sanctions targeted Major-Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual, chief of the general staff, Major-General James Koang Chuol, who led attacks in Upper Nile state, and General Peter Gadet, the rebels’ deputy chief of staff for operations.
However, in immediate reaction, senior government officials in Juba including the top generals targeted by the sanctions criticized the UN for the sanctions, adding this will not affect the ongoing fighting by the army.
“The moral of our army is high because there is nothing wrong they have done. Their actions were in defence of the constitution. There is nothing unlawful in defending the constitution,” said president Kiir’s cabinet affairs minister, Martin Elia Lomoru, on Thursday.
“As a government we commend them [army] for exhibiting commitment and discharged their constitutional duties and appeal to them and their families to not be bothered by foreign actions but continue to discharge their duties normally,” he said.
Major General Santino Deng Wol, the SPLA’s 3rd division commander covering Warrap and Northern Bahr el Ghazal states and whose forces provide regular military support and reinforcement to the fourth division in Unity state, told Sudan Tribune on Thursday that he would continue to discharge his duties and serving the nation without hesitation despite being sanctioned by the UN.
“There is no worry. These actions will not distract us from carrying out our constitutional mandate and responsibilities. The duty of the army everywhere is very clear. Our work is to defend the country, its constitution and the lives and properties of the people. This is the work for which we have taken oath of service. So there is no problem. This is our work,” said General Wol.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Jok Riak, the overall sector one commander covering greater Bahr el Ghazal region, home to president Kiir, defied sanctions imposed on him, saying he would not regret any consequence resulting in the execution of constitutional duties in defence of the country.
“The constitution of the republic of South Sudan is clear about the mandate of the SPLA. Our mandate to defence the territorial integrity of this country from any aggression, protect the lives and properties of the citizens. This is the work of the army everywhere in the world and even in America, and if defending the country can make someone be sanctioned, I will not regret,” said Riak.
He said he was not bothered by accusations that his forces were committing atrocities as long as they were defending the country’s constitution.
“I would have been bothered if SPLA forces under my command were accused of committing crimes not in the course of defending the constitution,” he added.
South Sudan’s deputy foreign affairs minister, Peter Bashir Gbandi, said imposition of sanctions was unwise
“Imposition of sanction will not stop the conflict. It will not help. We have said time and again imposition of sanctions will undermine the efforts to bring peace. It will complicate the peace process,” said Gbandi.
“What is important now [is] to put the pressure on the rebels to stop offenses and reciprocate the good will of the president to negotiate in good faith, instead of changing demands every now and then and making impossible demands,” he said.
South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, has been in turmoil since December 2013, when internal disputes with its ruling party (SPLM) over reforms sparked off an ethnic-like conflict. Since then, tens of thousands of people have been killed and nearly two million displaced in the country’s worst ever outbreak of violence since its independence in July 2011.
Peace talks aimed to bring the war to an end through a negotiated settlement collapsed on 6 March, but the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), says the talks will resume in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, by mid-July.
REBELS REACT
South Sudanese armed opposition faction of the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) led by former vice-president, Riek Machar, said they were the “victim” in the war and could not be equated to a government that started the war and carried out ethnic cleansing.
“We are the victim in the war and exercising self-defence. We should not be equated to president Salva Kiir’s dictatorial government which interrupted peaceful democratic political processes by fabricating a coup, then started the war and carried out ethnic cleansing in the capital, Juba,” rebel leader’s spokesman, James Gatdet Dak, told Sudan Tribune when contacted on Thursday.
“We are the ones in defence of our people and the constitution while the government is targeting the people in the project of ethnic cleansing and against constitutionality in the country,” Dak further said.
For instance, he explained that their now sanctioned chief of general staff, Maj-Gen Simon Gatwech Dual, who was only appointed last year by the rebel leadership after the conflict erupted in December 2013, fled the capital, Juba, for his life in January when his house was attacked by presidential guards and forces loyal to president Kiir.
Dak also said the same was true with both Maj-General Peter Gatdet Yak and Maj-Gen James Koang Chuol, who only responded to the mass killing of ethnic Nuer civilians in Juba.
General Yak was in charge of army division 8 in Jonglei state while General Chuol was in charge of division 4 in Unity state. The two defected in December and January 2013, respectively, and joined Machar after learning about the killing of civilians from their ethnic group by “presidential guards and ethnic Dinka militia forces loyal to president Kiir.”
The rebel spokesperson also downplayed the significance of the sanctions, and accused the government’s defence minister Kuol Manyang Juuk, and SPLA army chief of general staff, Paul Malong Awan, of continuing to purchase weapons and using the oil revenues at the expense of the people of South Sudan.
He also accused Malong of allegedly recruiting the ethnic Dinka militia forces that carried out the atrocities in Juba, when he was governor of Northern Bahr el Ghazal state.
The press secretary for the rebel opposition leader further said the opposition leadership would want to see arms embargo to be imposed on the government and to reign on regional neighbouring countries to implement it accordingly.
(ST)
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