S. Sudan army chief Pagak captured to return governor
August 17, 2017 (JUBA) – The chief of South Sudan’s defence forces said the army was under pressure to capture the rebel stronghold of Pagak because the Maiwut state governor was operating out of the area.
Gen. James Ajonga Mawut told the state-owned SSBC television on Thursday that, together with several high ranking military officers, he visited Pagak on Wednesday and held talks with government forces and local authorities, days after the capture of the rebel headquarter.
“This Governor should stay in Paloch to do what? To stay in Paloch up to when and do what? We must bring him to his state and this is the responsibility we took to bring the governor to his state”, he said.
The top military officer commended the army for respecting rights of the civilians and for not killing them, saying it was their constitutional duty to provide security and protection to lives and properties.
“For civilians to return here, you have done your work. You respect civilians, you did not take any property and you did not kill any civilian. From here it is the responsibility of the state to make engagement with a neighbouring country like Ethiopia for civilians to return to their homes,” said the army chief of staff.
Lieutenant General Malual Ayom Dor assistant chief of defence forces for operations, training and intelligence, who was also part of the military delegation, said their visit to Pagak was to prove to the world the area was under the control of the pro-government forces.
The South Sudanese army captured Pagak, a rebel stronghold town on South Sudan’s border with Ethiopia, reversing all gains made by the armed opposition forces loyal to the former First Vice-President Riek Machar in past months.
The South Sudanese civil war is a conflict in between forces of the government and the armed opposition forces. In December 2013, President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy Machar of attempting a coup d’état. Since then, tens of thousands of people have been killed and nearly two million displaced in the country’s worst-ever violence after it seceded from Sudan.
(ST)