Former South Sudan rebel commander denies defection

September 27, 2014 (JUBA) – A former South Sudanese rebel commander has dismissed reports that he had defected from the government and subsequently disowned from the community, allegedly forcing him to seek asylum at the Sudanese embassy in Kenya.

General Bapiny Monytuil is a member of one of the rebel groups which responded to the 2012 presidential amnesty and now fights alongside the national army (SPLA) against rebel fighters allied to former vice-president Riek Machar.

Monytuil, who is now based in his home state of Unity under the command of Major General Puljang Mathews after he was integrated into the SPLA with the rank of lieutenant general, appeared visibly agitated by the allegations in an interview with Sudan Tribune, describing the claims as “nonsense”.

“I was chased away by whom or run away from whom? All these allegations are nonsense. Nobody can chase me away or disown my native right in [the] Nuer community. All these you hear are just propaganda from the rebels to fight their war in the media,” he said.

“But I must say this: The war is over. If they want to come, we are ready to receive them and work with them for peace instead of living on wishful thinking. It will not happen,” he added.

Bapiny said his recent trips to Uganda and Kenya on a mission peace have been “misinterpreted” by the rebel faction to mean he was running away from the government.

“Like I told you before, these allegations first came from Khartoum. It was speculated that I went to the Sudanese embassy in Kenya to seek asylum. Later on they (rebels) shifted these allegations to reports that I [had] run away from the communities in Uganda and I was subsequently disowned,” he said.

However, Monytuil denied he had been disowned or been barred from speaking on community-related issues, saying “Nobody can disown me”.

Government and rebel forces have been engaged in an armed struggle since mid-December last year after a political split in the country’s ruling party turned violent, triggering tribal tensions across the young nation.

Pro-Machar rebel forces, comprising largely of ethnic Nuer militia and dissident soldiers, are calling for democratic reforms, and have described president Salva Kiir, who hails from the Dinka tribe, as an illegitimate leader.

(ST)