South Sudan army says containing ethnic unrest in Western Equatoria
August 3, 2015 (JUBA) – South Sudanese army (SPLA) claimed it has managed to contain an inter-ethnic fighting in Western Equatoria state, creating a buffer zone between two rival tribes involved in the conflict.
A senior military commander however said situation had come under control and that a buffer zone had been created between the two warring communities.
“There is no problem. Everything is under control. We have created a buffer zone and we are encouraging the leadership to engage in dialogue and tell the youth to control their emotions,” SPLA’s sixth division commander, Major General Johson Juma, told Sudan Tribune on Monday.
General Juma, who is the top commanding officer of the government soldiers in the area, called on politicians to not fuel the situation with what he described as “inflammatory statements.”
But while the commanding officer appeared to have downplayed the intensity of the security situation in the area, state officials stressed that the delegation dispatched to the area to calm down and diffuse the situation from spiralling out of control was unable to meet both the two warring sides.
JUBA CONSPIRACY
Western Equatoria state’s information minister, Charles Barnaba Kisanga, accused the national government in Juba of “conspiracy” to incite violence in the state in order to use it as a pretext to replace governor Joseph Bangasi Bakosoro.
He also said the delegation from Juba didn’t bother to meet the ethnic Dinka pastoralists and convince them to stop fighting, saying they were only lecturing youth from the state.
“The delegation as much as chief of staff concentrated on siding with the pastoralists because they only lectured Western Equatoria state youth and leaders, and none of them ventured to side of Dinka pastoralists who are well armed to tell them terms of peace,” said state minister Kisanga.
“I made this clear today in my South Sudan Television talk that peace must involve talking to all sides,” he said in a statement.
He claimed that the conspirators wanted South Sudanese president Salva Kiir to use his constitutional powers empowering him to remove state governor and dissolve even state legislative assembly in the event that an internal insecurity becomes a national security threat.
“It is clear the delegation was put in place by those orchestrating violence as a way they could remove Western Equatoria state governor and install their new governor without reference to the suffering of Western Equatoria people,” minister Kisanga added.
The state official said if there was urge to remove the governor, the best way was to make consultations with the people in order to come up with a new candidate for the governorship.
“The delegation condoned the order by chief of staff that only one side, the Western Equatoria state youth, must be shot to kill and massacred. Conflict among people cannot be solved by ordering the killing and annihilating of one side,” he added.
(ST)