Upper Nile: Six killed, 28 wounded in SAF clashes

February 4, 2011 (JUBA) – At least six people, including 2 children, were killed and 28 wounded in fierce clashes in Malakal after a dispute between components of the Sudanese army turned violent on Thursday evening, Upper Nile state officials have told Sudan Tribune.

The fighting, which continued into Friday morning was between members of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) – allied to Khartoum – who are part of the area’s Joint Integrated Units (JIUs), which also include members of former southern rebels the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), as part of a 2005 peace deal.

AFP reported that 13 people have died and 30 have been wounded in the clashes. However, Lam Both, the information and communication minister in Upper Nile State told Sudan Tribune late on Friday he was only aware of six casualties but acknowledged that this may have risen.

Heavy weapons such as mortars have been used in the battle, with most casualties believed to be civilians. The numbers of deaths is expected to increase once doctors are able to reach the areas which have suffered the heaviest fighting.

One of the dead is a driver for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), who was caught in the cross fire, the UN said on Friday.

Under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) the JIUs were established to meet the internal security needs of the south during the deal’s five-year interim period, which ended in January with a self determination referendum for South Sudan.

After an overwhelming 99 percent of voters opted for the south to secede from the north, the parties to the deal have until July 9 to finalize outstanding issues before the south forms its own country.

According to Both, Thursday’s fighting broke out after southern SAF members of the joint forces resisted orders to move north, as is stipulated in the peace deal.

Some of the soldiers also did not want to move north as they did not believe they would have rights there after the south secedes according to Reuters’ reports. Issues such as citizenship are among many post-referendum issues that are being negotiated by Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the south’s governing Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).

Ahead of the plebiscite, thousands of southern Sudanese headed south, uncertain of their future in the north.

Fighting started around 7:00pm on Thursday night and continued until Friday morning. “At least six people have been confirmed dead and over 20 admitted in hospital. Out of those killed, two were children,” Both told Sudan Tribune by phone from Malakal.

Phillip Panyang Aguer, the SPLA spokesperson, said that under the CPA provisions, the SAF is mandated to move back to the north with all its military equipment and that there should have been “no interference” by the southern members of the SAF in the JIUs in this process.

“I learnt that the incident in Upper Nile was as a result of a disagreement between the SAF components within the JIU who were asked to move north. Some are refusing to go north and be disarmed,” Aguer told Sudan Tribune on Friday.

Malakal, situated on the White Nile, was a key garrison town for the northen army during the Sudan’s 22-year north-south civil war. The Khartoum government backed various militia in ethnically diverse Upper Nile to fight against the southern rebels. Many of the militias are still well armed with heavy artillery supplied by the north.

SPLA forces in Malakal, the spokesperson added, had tried to intervene and mediate between to two sides in order to restore calm in an area, known for fierce clashes in the past. He said that the SPLA had not been involved in the fighting and none of their soldiers had been injured.

Aguer told Sudan Tribune that the soldiers, who had objected to their relocation to the north and disarmament, were loyal to General Gabriel Tanginye (AKA Gabriel Tang) who had led a militia in the area during the civil war.

In 2006 and 2008 Tanginye was accused of instigating violence in Malakal that resulted in the deaths of over 300 people.

But in October last year Tanginye announced that he was joining the south’s governing party, the SPLM, after southern president Salva Kiir issued an amnesty for armed groups in the region in an attempt to unify the south ahead of the referendum.

Despite leaving his position in the SAF and joining the SPLA, many of Tanginye’s men have not yet been integrated into the southern army.

In a televised statement on South Sudan Television on Friday, Aguer described the incident as an “internal dispute” between groups originally members of the SAF in the JIU “over the ownership military weapons”.

“The fighting in Malakal started on Thursday between groups of SAF [in the] JIU over ownership of military weapons and equipments. It has nothing to do with the SPLA forces. It broke out between those who want to take artilleries to the north and those who do not.

“Both groups of the SAF JIUs are South Sudanese but disagreed on whether artilleries should be taken to north after all the SAF forces were ordered from Khartoum to go to [the] north after [the] referendum results”, explained Aguer.

The military officer said the SPLA started following quarrels between the two groups last week. “Our forces around Malakal town started following and monitoring their activities closely since last week when the two groups started quarrelling. These squabbles intensified [Thursday] evening at around 9 o’clock when they started shooting before the state authorities intervened [but they] resumed again today on Friday morning”, explained Aguer.

“The SPLA is monitoring the situation closely and we called on the leadership of the Joint Integrated Unit to resolve the issue with immediacy so that it does not escalate into a security threat to the citizens of Upper Nile”, he said.

Military tensions in Malakal following the conflict within the unit remain high, prompting many residents of the town to have stayed indoors since the fighting begun.

(ST)