South Sudan denies attacking rebel-held areas in Unity state
September 13, 2015 (JUBA) – South Sudanese government has denied reports that its forces have attacked rebel-held positions in Unity state in violation of the permanent ceasefire which results from the signing of peace agreement in August.
However, Unity state’s governor, Joseph Nguen Monytuil, refuted the allegations, describing the attack as “barbaric” and urged the international community to hold the rebels responsible for renewed military offensives.
“We are surprised by this barbaric act of the rebels. They have violated the ceasefire in broad day light with attack on the positions held by forces in the state today. This is unacceptable and we condemn it in the strongest term possible as the state government,” governor Monytuil said in a statement issued on Sunday.
Unity state minister of youth, culture and sports, Lam Tungwar, exclusively told Sudan Tribune Sunday that he was surprised by the media reports, which claimed pro-government troops in the state had carried out attacks on the armed opposition forces.
He described as “a misleading and blunt lie” accusations directed at the national army.
“The reports which [I] have seen today are totally blunt lies. We have been closely monitoring the situation on the ground since yesterday when we received reports of the rebels amassing their troops within the vicinity of Bentiu town and our gallant SPLA forces in the state were put on alert to be vigilant and not move out of their positions even if they see provocative activities by the rebels,” said Tungwar.
“And today at around 6:00 am, the rebels attacked the town in clear violation of the ceasefire which our forces have received clear instructions to observe and comply [with]. They listened and complied but the rebels took it upon themselves as an opportunity to attack the positions of our forces and turned around to make those wild lies,” he added.
Tungwar, a youth activist-turned politician, decried the manner with which the armed opposition fighters and its leadership were handling the ceasefire and implementation of the peace agreement despite ratification done by the two South Sudan warring sides.
“This was purely an attempt to cover their act. They have been organising themselves for this attack and we alerted relevant institutions and concerned players, including the embassy of the United States here in Juba and others about these activities of the rebels,” he said.
He claimed that it was the opposition fighters that were amassing troops within the vicinity of Bentiu town.
“We knew they were going to stage an attack and come out quickly with predetermined and planed statements to claim the attack was carried out by our gallant forces. We knew this tactic because they have been doing them time and again,” he explained.
13 KILLED IN CLASHES
The spokesperson of the government forces, Colonel Philip Aguer, separately accused the opposition fighters of carrying out attacks on positions held by government troops. He described the rebels’ reports blaming government for the attack as a mere “cover up.”
Aguer said the army lost five soldiers while eight rebels died during clashes in Unity state.
“[The] SPLA lost five soldiers in rebel attack and one woman, a civilian, was also killed, 20 were wounded, even the commissioner of the county was slightly wounded,” he said.
“After we repulsed the attackers, eight bodies of rebels were found on the ground.”
The rebels had ealier accused forces loyal to President Salva Kiir of attacking their positions in Unity state, claims Sudan Tribune could not independently verify.
Ceasefire monitors are yet to be deployed since the agreement was signed last month.
“The SPLA is in the control of the situation, the rebels have planned to capture some areas before they implement the peace agreement and SPLA is monitoring their plans,” said Aguer.
The military officer called on the United Nations, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the global community to deploy ceasefire monitors to verify the allegations of violations on the ground.
(ST)
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