450 IDPs fled Juba to join rebellion: minister

November 7, 2015 (JUBA) – About 450 internally displaced persons (IDPs) early this week left the UN protection site in Juba to join the ranks of rebels in Western Equatoria state, a South Sudanese minister announced on Friday.

Minister of information and broadcasting Michael Makuei Lueth said a security briefing from ministers of defence, national security and interior revealed that the strongmen headed to the bush in preparation for integration as part of SPLM In Opposition forces.

“It is reported [by ministers of security sector] that about 450 people in UNMISS camp have left the camp and they have gone away in that direction,” said Makuei to journalists in a briefing to reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting chaired by President Salva Kiir on Friday.

When asked to specify where the alleged IDPs headed, he said toward the Western Equatoria state.

“Because these days of course the thing [rebellion] is becoming lucrative and when people join the SPLM/A-IO so that they are integrated,” he added.

It is not clear if the 450 men who left UNMISS camp in Juba are former soldiers or intend to be trained.

The SPLM IO and UNMISS have not commented on those allegation and Sudan Tribune could not independently verify the claims.

UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is hosting more than 200,000 civilians in six bases across the country.

The IDPs sought protection at the UNMISS camps of Bor, Juba, Malakal, Bentiu and Wau when the conflict begun in December 2013. Most of the IDPs are from the Nuer tribe where rebel leader and former vice president Riek Machar hails.

According to the African Union Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan conflict, Nuer men, women and children were targeted at the onset of the conflict and had to seek protection at the UN bases.

(ST)