Southern army says it will not carry out reprisal attack against General Athor

By Ngor Arol Garang

December 21, 2010 (ABYEI) – The leadership of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) on Tuesday said it did not plan to initiate any reprisal attack against forces loyal to General George Athor Deng Dut after 14 people are thought to have died in recent clashes.

Speaking to Sudan Tribune on Monday from his base in the extreme north-western part of Jonglei, in an area close to Malakal town, capital of Upper Nile State, Athor accused the SPLA of attacking his forces twice over the weekend.

George Athor Deng Dut, rebelled against the southern government after losing a race to become governor of his native Jonglei state in the last April’s elections. He accused officials from the regional government predominantly SPLM members of fraud and votes rigging.

Since launching his rebellion, his forces have clashed on several occasions with SPLA forces until South Sudan president General Salva Kiir Mayardit issued an executive order pardoning him and leaders from other armed groups in October 2010.

As part of the continuous search for peace and stability, Kiir issued another executive order forming a high level committee comprising Episcopal and Catholic Bishops to mediate in order to open direct links between the Southern President and General Athor.

On 15 December 2010, the delegation led by Episcopal Bishop Daniel Deng Bul met with Athor, describing the talks as successful.

However, Athor on Monday accused SPLA of launching attack on his forces; a charge SPLA spokesperson denied and accused Athor of having launched an ambush attack on their forces in the area.

With civilian caught up in the middle of the armed confrontation and counter accusations, many fear that the military tensions could have a negative effect on the region’s referendum on southern independence scheduled to take place next month.

General Salva Mathok Gengdit, a presidential advisor on SPLA affairs in an interview with Sudan Tribune from Juba on Tuesday said he regretted the clash and that initiating another attack was not an option.

“The clashes that I am told occurred over weekend are regrettable because nobody had expected resumption of armed confrontation, while president has appointed a committee tasked to explore ways and modalities of how to implement the amnesty,” said General Mathok.

Mathok, who previously served as a deputy chief of general staff for administration and finance, under the command of General Oyai Deng Ajak, said the president and chief of general staff are informed of the latest incident.

“The president of the government of south Sudan and general chief of staff of the SPLA forces are informed. They are aware of this incident and something good is being done about it,” said Mathok.

On his part, the SPLA spokesman, Colonel Phillip Aguer said he still does not have clear information but received reports from the local command that forces loyal to General Athor laid an ambush for their forces that were in the area.

“The report we have is that forces armed personnel suspected to be supporters of George Athor laid an ambush for our forces in Pigi County in Jonglei state,” said Aguer.

“He attacked while talks with him are in the progress,” he said stressing that the incident will be treated separately and amnesty negotiations would continue.

The senior military officer said he still does not have accurate information regarding casualties but reports that some soldiers were among the dead and injured.

“I still do not have accurate figures and details of the clash. We are still gathering details of this incident because this happened in the remote area but there are reports that at least 14 people have died. Two of whom were those who sustained injuries on Sunday attack,” said Aguer adding “there maybe more”.

The figure of 14 is an increase on earlier reports, which said that 12 people died in the attack.

The southern government is attempting to unify the south politically and militarily ahead of the referendum, which most observers believe will see the south secede from the north. Sudan’s south was granted the right to separate from the north in a 2005 peace deal between the SPLM and the National Congress Party, which governs the north.

Around two million people were killed in the conflict and four million displaced by the civil in Africa’s largest country, which began in 1983 and has been fought over identity, religion, political and economic marginalization and south’s oil and water resources.

(ST)