South Sudan army accused of killing top Western Equatoria official

May 23, 2015 (JUBA/ADDIS ABABA) – South Sudanese army (SPLA) has been accused of killing based on ethnicity a senior official in Western Equatoria state after soldiers loyal to the administration under president Salva Kiir came under fire from alleged attack by rebel forces on Thursday.

John Cleopa, executive director of Mundri West county, was shot dead on Friday while accompanying the county commissioner to a spot where two SPLA soldiers were killed and several others wounded on Thursday night.

Opposition forces led by former vice-president, Riek Machar, claimed the SPLA forces fell into ambush they laid while trying to reinforce their troops in Mundri which allegedly came under the control of the rebels later on Friday.

But Western Equatoria state officials described attackers as unknown gunmen and admitted that incidents of fighting were taking place around Mundri.

However, they blamed the death of one of their officials on their own army (SPLA) which they accused of assassinating the county executive director.

“Who says John [Cleopa] was killed by people not known? This is a bad politics and it will backfire. Our people know the truth. I was there when John was killed. I accompanied him to the scene after hearing that some SPLA forces came under fire and that two soldiers were killed.”

“He was talking on the telephone when one of the soldiers who complained why the local authorities did not intervene left the scene and in the matter of one minute, he opened fire on John. He did not kill other people. This was a clear assassination because of his ethnicity,” an official who claimed to have accompanied the former executive director for Mundri West county told Sudan Tribune on Saturday.

He said he, John and county commissioner were visiting the area as county authorities to investigate what happened and how it happened. It however seemed the soldiers were frustrated because no local fighters from the area came to their rescue when they were under attack.

“When we got the information, John then decided to call authorities in Yambio and in Juba to provide information about the incident so that he could hear from them how to go about it. He talked to some members of parliament in Juba and in Yambio,” he further explained.

But Mundri West county commissioner, Hassan Bakheit, told Sudan Tribune on Saturday that the official was killed by unidentified gunmen from a distance.

“I did not see the people. It just happened that some people opened fire from a distance and the bullets hit John. I was driven away and until now we are not able to identify the people who shot him. It was a random shooting coming from different directions. So it is difficult to say who opened fire,” Bakheit said.

He denied that the town had fallen under the control of the opposition forces operating in the area, saying a reinforcement by the South Sudanese army from Maridi restored the situation in Mundri town.

“I am speaking to you from Mundri town. The situation today is calm and under control. The SPLA forces have come from Maridi and we are working with them and the police and other security forces to restore law and order,” said the returning commissioner.

He called on civilians who fled the town on Friday to come back, saying the situation went back to normalcy.

The top county official did not deny or confirm the presence of the armed opposition in the area, although he denied that the town was under their control.

South Sudan rebels said they captured Mundri town on Friday, adding that the county executive director was occidentally killed while trying to escape from the town. They also claimed to have dispersed an SPLA reinforcement coming from Lakes state.

Rebel sources told Sudan Tribune that their forces began to evacuate vulnerable groups from Mundri town on Saturday in anticipation of government’s attack to recapture the town. It was not however clear whether their forces who allegedly captured the town also withdrew.

The operation that captured Mundri, they claimed, was led by Colonel Wesley Welebe and under the overall command of Major General Elias Lako Jada.

Mundri is some 200km west of the country’s capital, Juba. A significant presence of the rebels in the area would pose threat to the national capital.

(ST)