Return weapons or risk arrest, S. Sudan rebels tell defectors

August 2, 2017 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s armed opposition forces allied to former First Vice-President, Riek Machar have warned soldiers who defected to the National Salvation Front (NSF) to return all arms or ammunitions taken after the recent clashes around Yei River state.

A deputy spokesperson for the armed opposition, Col. Lam Paul Gabriel, said their forces would continue to hunt down the rebel defectors should they fail to surrender the weapons they took away.

“The SPLA-IO [Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In-Opposition] would like to make it clear that our main enemy is the Juba government, but not the National Salvation Front. All we need from Gen. [John] Kenyi is the weapons he disarmed from our forces and the community and the ammunitions given to him for protection while he was still the SPLA-IO sector 8 commander,” he told Sudan Tribune.

Lam appealed to the NSF leadership to immediately bring back the ammunition they disarmed from their soldiers, but warned that failure to return the weapons would attract military confrontations.

He called for calm among civilians around Yei River state and urged the population to continue with their usual day to day activities.

Last week, the armed opposition forces clashed at Yori in South Sudan’s Yei River state, following a split among rebel fighters after some groups declared allegiance to the leadership of the NSF.

Dozens of troops on both sides are feared to have died during the attack in Yei River state.

The hostilities erupted in South Sudan in 2013, when President Salva Kiir fired Machar, who was the leader of South Sudanese armed opposition forces.

The parties signed a peace deal in August 2015, but hostilities resumed in July 2016.

(ST)