White Army claims Pibor success and calls for Murle disarmament
By Toby Collins
January 6, 2011 (LONDON) – A group claiming responsibility for recent attacks displacing up to 50,000 members of the Murle ethnic group in Jonglei released a statement on Wednesday calling for their disarmament and describing their operation a success.
The recent fighting, which began at the end of December, is an escalation of a seven month spate of conflict between the Murle and neighbouring ethnic groups, which is estimated to have left more than 1,000 dead.
The NWA claim that in the Pibor conflict, in which the “majority of Murle tribe escaped to Ethiopian mountains”, 95 of their ranks were injured and 15 killed. The NWA will not pursue them across the border.
They state that the Lou, Jikany and Gawaar; all sub-groups of the Nuer, have been consolidated to form the NWA: a group which “has no political objective”.
This group plans to join with Nuer of Unity state “to defend Nuerland from external enemies”.
It thanked the 900 members of the Dinka ethnic group for their assistance in their operation “to end the problem of Murle”. It says a delegation has been sent to meet with members of the Anuak ethnic group, to further broaden their coalition.
As a result of the conflict South Sudan has sent forces to the area, declared a state of emergency on Wednesday and is calling for international assistance.
The UN, which estimates 50,000 have been displaced by the conflict, has sent troops to the area. On Thursday peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told reporters that UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) staff and peacekeepers “have seen several dozen bodies,” in Jonglei.
The NWA suggest that the Murle have been abducting members of other ethnic groups because their women are infertile. They propose intermarriage with Nuer and Dinka with cattle dowries negotiated by their chiefs. The belief that the Murle are infertile is shared by the president of South Sudan, Salva Kiir.
John Boloch Kumen, an official in the government’s Peace and Reconciliation Commission, told the Sudan Tribune that the attack was an act of “ethnic cleansing”.
http://www.sudantribune.com/Murle-leaders-describe-Pibor,41188
http://www.sudantribune.com/Murle-leaders-describe-Pibor,41188
The NWA commended the actions of the UN in Pibor and ask they remain “independent from South Sudan government which is led by confused people”.
The NWA suggest that peace negotiations take place outside Sudan, with the mediation of the international community. They refuse further negotiations with the vice president of South Sudan and member of the Nuer ethnic group, Riek Machar, who previously attempted to broker a peace between the groups, as they hold him “responsible for all the deaths in Jonglei for arming Murle in 1990s to fight John Garang”.
John Garang was the leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) who signed the peace agreement that ended decades of Sudanese civil war. Despite being his deputy, some blame Machar for mobilising forces against Garang in 1991 and joining the government in Khartoum.
The NWA state that their aim is to “defend our cattle and kids from Murle because the government failed to provide security after disarming us in 2006” and warned against any attempt to dissuade them from this with further disarmament.
Asked why in their statement they argue against negotations with the Nuer chiefs. Tut Deang of the NWA, told Sudan Tribune that they are “an organization of the youth” not operating under the leadership of traditional chiefs.
Deang told Sudan Tribune that the NWA would lay down its arms in the event of Murle disarmament as “the youth want schools, pens, foot balls, cars and movies”; they have resorted to armed conflict as “there is no functional government in South Sudan that can provide security for all“.
(ST)