South Sudan armed opposition dismisses defectors’ claim over Mandeng control
October 1, 2015 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s armed opposition faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) led by the first vice-president designate, Riek Machar, has dismissed claims by a defected senior commander that they had taken control of Mandeng village in the oil-rich Upper Nile state from Machar’s movement.
“We have been forced to take control of our areas. Riek Machar is moving around telling the region and the world that we do not have support and forces on the ground, yet he is the one who has no forces. He is now in New York and what he is telling the world leaders is that we the commanders who differed with him and left do not have forces of our own on the ground,” Gatkuoth said.
“Our immediate objective now is to take back our areas. Mandeng is one of them. We will extend our operations to Jonglei, to Unity and all other areas which were under our control in greater Upper Nile region,” he added.
The defector did not however say when the alleged fighting took place or whether their forces hit and ran or still remained in full control of the area.
However, spokesman of the opposition leader dismissed the claims as mere propaganda, saying the situation had remained calm.
“I have not received any report of fighting in Mandeng. Latest information on Thursday indicated there was no fighting in the area. It is under full control of our forces,” said James Gatdet Dak, spokesman for the opposition leader, Machar.
He said the report was a propaganda by the defectors to try to confuse the situation as they were “anti-peace elements”, adding the defected officers have no forces of their own, criticizing them for wanting the war and suffering of the people to continue.
Dak explained that what the defected commanders call their forces are the same forces which are commanded by their replacements, thinking that they share them and can also command them outside the system.
“They don’t have forces that we know of, or declared defection with them. What they seem to think is that the forces they used to command when they were still in the system before they were relieved from their positions also remain their forces, which is not true,” he explained.
The opposition leader’s spokesman however revealed that Machar had not yet removed the defected generals from the membership of the movement and the army, but from the positions they previously held in the military command.
He also said the opposition leader had been ready to welcome them back into the movement should they choose to return and join in the peace making in the country.
But Gatkuoth in the exclusive interview with Sudan Tribune maintained that he was now fighting against both president Salva Kiir’s government and the opposition led by Machar, although his objectives were not clear.
He also maintained claims that his former boss had no forces and that he was previously depending on the defected commanders to mobilize for his fighting force.
“Riek has no forces and if he says he has forces, then time will prove who is saying what,” he explained.
“When he [Riek] left Juba, he did not leave with forces. He ran away alone with wife, his brother-in-law Taban Deng Gai. It was General Peter Gatdet who rescued him in Bor and captured it because he was the division commander there. He had forces. I captured Malakal three times and General James Koang Chuol took control of Bentiu. It was not Riek and we were not instructed by him. It was because our people were butchered in Juba and Riek could not help them. Now he says he has forces, we will see,” he said.
In August the defectors claimed that they captured Pagak, Machar’s headquarters near the Ethiopian border, and allegedly killed former commissioner of Leer county. But the claims turned out not to be true as no fighting took place in the area.
However, there are concerns that the defectors who have disapproved of the recently concluded internationally backed IGAD brokered peace agreement may want to cause trouble, particularly in their home areas and continue to drag their local populations into further humanitarian devastation.
Machar will command a separate army for the first one and a half years of the transitional period in accordance with the security arrangements in the peace deal. His army will equally receive salaries and other benefits similar to government’s army during the transition and after unification of the two armies.
The two armies are also expected to declare the sizes of their respective forces in the country as well as their areas of control.
(ST)