Rogue SPLA soldiers protest outside Bor, civilians complain of beatings

May 8, 2012 (BOR) – Hundreds of rogue South Sudan army (SPLA) soldiers, most of them deserters from Jonglei’s Pibor County on Wednesday staged a roadblock on the outskirts of the state capital, demanding pay.

The soldiers, who declined to return to the Pibor county where the army is fighting an armed insurgency, created the blockade on the road between Bor and Juba, the South Sudan capital.

Vehicles were not able to pass from Juba to Bor or vice versa. Civilians, who tried to use the road by foot or in vehicles on Wednesday, told Sudan Tribune that they had been beaten and assaulted by some of the soldiers.

More than 20 vehicles, carrying passengers and goods from Juba are reported to be waiting at Malualagobaar, 4kms away from Malualchat, where the soldiers are camped outside Bor.

The soldiers complain that they have not been paid for three months or received adequate food provisions since March, causing them to leave their areas of deployment in Pibor without permission at the end of April.

Sudan Tribune was unable to reach Philip Aguer, the military’s spokesman on Wednesday.

However, he recently said that soldiers who disobeyed their orders and left Pibor would be relieved of their duties.

(ST)