New rebel faction overruns police post near Torit
December 3, 2015 (JUBA) – A new rebel faction in South Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria state has on Thursday claimed to have overrun a police post in Idolu, some 35 kilometers east of Torit town, capital of the state.
Residents told Sudan Tribune on Thursday that armed men in military trucks and wearing uniforms similar to the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), which is the official army of South Sudan, appeared in the village of Idolu and without facing resistance declared control of the police post located outside the state capital, Torit.
Multiple local government officials from the area and security sources also confirmed that a group of armed men entered Idolu police post at around 3:30 pm on Thursday and declared control of the security of the area.
The identity of the group remains unclear and neither the state government in Torit nor the central government in Juba had come out to say whom they have suspected to have carried out the attack in the area.
A group calling itself South Sudan armed forces claimed the responsibility of the attack in which three policemen are reported to have been captured and taken hostage by the group.
“Our forces took control of Idolu this afternoon and the policemen and the local youth have declared themselves to be under our control. Our forces are now advancing on Torit town. We asked civilians to leave. We don’t want them to be caught in the cross fire,” Colonel Mario Bertino, who identified himself as the spokesperson of the new South Sudanese rebel group told Sudan Tribune in an interview on Thursday.
Bertino said the group was under the overall command of Major General Anthony Ongwaja, a native of the area who allegedly served in the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) before recently defecting with about 50 soldiers on 25 November from a military outpost guarding Torit town.
His assignment and actual rank in the SPLA before defecting remains the subject of speculation, with some saying he was one of the lower ranking officers who felt agitated by being passed over during previous promotions.
Others say he could be one of the South Sudanese who grew up in exile in one of the neigbouring countries and had become one of hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese who had faced difficulties in getting jobs and better living conditions in their own country after secession from neigbouring Sudan.
Demands of the new rebel faction have also remained unknown as there is no declared objective for launching the rebellion.
(ST)