S. Sudan accuses Jonglei rebels of new attack after presidential amnesty
April 29, 2013 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s army on Monday accused rebels in the country’s eastern Jonglei state of a launching a new attack days after President Salva Kiir Mayardit issued an amnesty pardoning the members of all rebel groups in the young nation.
“There have been conflicting death tolls. […] We just received reports of fresh fighting yesterday but we do not know the number of casualties”, Majak Deng, a member of South Sudan’s civil society alliance told Sudan Tribune on Monday in Juba.
Deng claimed he received reports that the military barred aid agencies from entering Muorua after the attack. The Red Cross and some other agencies have since been given access, he said, but none has issued a definitive death toll.
“Our representative in Pibor personally tried to visit today but he was denied the opportunity to go on the vehicle with the soldiers to the scene. The area is still being inhabited there are about 1,000 people in this village but I am now being told homes were also destroyed and without significant relief materials there could be a humanitarian disaster”, he explained.
Clashes between the military and members of the rebel group operating in areas around Pibor are a regular occurrence.
President Salva Kiir Mayardit on 25 April issued amnesty to which some of the rebel groups have responded positively.
However, David Yauyau’s rebel group in Jonglei say they were not consulted before the amnesty was issued and have not shown an interest in laying down their weapons or reintegrating themselves into the South Sudanese army (SPLA).
The rebel leaders who have excepted the amnesty are expected to visit country’s capital Juba this week for a meeting with president and senior government officials and members of the armed forces.
South Sudan information Minister Barnaba Marial confirmed the attack but did not give any further details.
Minister Marial in a statement broadcast by the State owned South Sudan Television (SSTV) thanked the rebel groups who had accepted the call of the president to hand in their weapons so that they could give peace and reconciliation a chance.
Michelle Delaney, the Public Information officer at UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said insecurity has restricted humanitarian access to Jonglei’s Pibor County.
“Humanitarian access on the Bor to Pibor road remains restricted due to recent violence in the area,” she said in an email to Sudan Tribune.
(ST)