Traditional leader flees Juba, meets rebel leader in Addis Ababa
March 10, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – A prominent chief of the Lou Nuer community in Juba escaped from the South Sudanese capital on Tuesday and joined the opposition faction of the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) under the leadership of former vice-president, Riek Machar.
Upon arrival in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, chief Gatluak met Machar on Tuesday and briefed him on the general situation in Juba, particularly of the internally displaced persons (IDPS) living in the protection sites manned by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
The chief said the situation was bad in the congested camp in Juba, further citing lack of access to education service for children and young men who have been redundantly taking shelter in the UN-run facility.
He also claimed people continue to live in fear in the capital, saying the situation remains tense as many citizens continue to disappear from their residential homes in the hands of president Salva Kiir’s security organs.
The influential chief who hails from the same Lou Nuer section as the defected former rebel spokesperson Lul Ruai Koang, said he will soon travel to his area of the Lou Nuer territory to continue to participate in the mobilisation of the population to resist government’s planned attacks on civilians and to work for removal of president Kiir from power.
He accused Kiir-led government of massacring in cold blood thousands of innocent citizens from the Lou Nuer community in the capital in December 2013 and of further plans by his government to attack the Lou Nuer civilians in their territory.
Lul, who defected under unclear circumstances last month, on Sunday issued a statement claiming that he was getting ready to attack the Lou Nuer area and congratulated president Kiir’s forces for recapturing Wedakona area from the SPLM-IO fighters in the Shilluk kingdom in Upper Nile state.
The United Nations Security Council is expected to discuss the situation in South Sudan and consider some actions and rebel or government officials who breach the cessation of hostilities and encourage war.
Observers say, the government and the SPLM-IO are expected to observe the truce and to allow the humanitarian access to the needy in the conflict area, as they fear to be hit by the UN sanctions regime.
(ST)