S. Sudan rebels welcome defection of Kapotea state MP
September 5, 2017 (JUBA) – A ruling party member of parliament hailing from South Sudan’s Kapotea state has defected and joined the armed opposition faction allied to former first vice president, Riek Machar, the rebels’ deputy spokesperson Col. Lam Paul Gabriel said.
Lochono, according to Lam, served as a lawmaker in South Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria state before it was split into Imatong and Namurunyang states, following the October 2015 presidential order.
“Marko Lojore was a soldier of SPLA-IG [Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In-Government] deployed in Kapoeta. The two served well under the Juba regime until they noticed their resources were being grabbed by [Louis] Lobong [Kapeota state governor] and [President] Salva Kiir while their community members die of starvation on a regular basis [while] young girls were being raped and the community being harassed by government soldiers,” said Lam.
The two defectors, he added, came along with more than 1000 armed government soldiers, claims Sudan Tribune could not verify.
“The SPLA-IO [Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In-Opposition] welcomes those [defectors] into its ranks and thanks all of them for their patriotic decision of joining the people’s movement”, he said.
The South Sudanese civil war is a conflict in South Sudan between forces of the government and opposition forces. In December 2013, President Kiir accused his former deputy Machar and 10 others of attempting a coup d’état.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed and nearly two million displaced in the country’s civil war.
(ST)