South Sudanese president appoints Yauyau an army general
November 7, 2015 (JUBA) – South Sudanese president Salva Kiir has issued an executive order integrating all officers and former militia fighters under the overall command of the chief administrator of the Geater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA), David Yauyau.
Three other officers, excluding him, were made lieutenant generals, about 10 officers were appointed major generals and several others brigadier generals, full colonels and lieutenant colonels, all of whom were observed and integrated into the army.
While little political prominence and educational background in South Sudan was known about Yauyau, he made his way into politics after he came into political scene as a prominent figure in his ethnic Murle, contested but lost an election in 2010.
Before the elections, however, he was an employee of South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission in the capacity of County Secretary in Pibor County. In April 2010, before South Sudan seceded from Sudan, he stood as an independent candidate in the Sudanese general election for a parliamentary seat seeking to represent Gumuruk Boma in the Jonglei State Assembly against an official candidate of the governing Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), Judi Jonglei Bioris who was declared winner.
Yauyau rejected the result and accused the SPLM of irregularities and voter intimidation. On May 20, 2010 he led an armed youth group into a clash with the SPLA during which one casualty was reported by the SPLA.
He later accepted he was in contact with George Athor, a senior military officer in the Sudan People’s liberation Army (SPLA) who contested the elections result after his main contestant for gubernatorial post for Jonglei state, Kuol Manyang Juuk, was declared the winner of the polls. Athor left the state capital Bor after the results were announced for his home area of Khorflus and formed South Sudan Democratic Movement (SSDM) after his supporters in the army clashed with armed members of Sudan People’s liberation Army (SPLA) at Doileb hill, a military outpost in Upper Nile state in May 2010.
Athor died mysteriously in 2011 after Yauyau signed a ceasefire with the government in June 2011, integrating him and his militia in the SPLA. In April 2012 he defected again, and led a Murle-dominated militia in the South Sudan internal conflict for several years.
In 2014, Yau Yau signed a peace deal with the government to end his rebellion and was appointed the Chief Administrator of a newly created Greater Pibor Administrative Area, giving him an equal status with state governors in the country.
(ST)