Defected S. Sudan military officer calls for united opposition to topple government

November 8, 2017 (JUBA) – A South Sudanese military officer, who recently defected with over 200 soldiers to the country’s main rebel group, has called for a united opposition to topple the government led by President Salva Kiir.

Lt. Col. Chan Garang, an ally of South Sudan’s former army chief of staff, Paul Malong Awan, openly declared his defection to the rebel faction led by the country’s former first vice-president, Riek Machar.

“The unity of all the forces is very important. [President] Salva Kiir and his friends in the government are taking advantage of these divisions among South Sudanese leaders. So we are encouraging all our brothers to come together and coordinate efforts so that the government of Salva Kiir and his friends is dismantled,” Garang told Sudan Tribune on Wednesday.

“If we come together, he will not sleep in Juba,” he added.

The military officer said his forces were preparing to launch military offensives against government forces, but did not specify when.

“We are already active. We captured several military outposts when we left Juba and will continue to coordinate our operations with other comrades so that we take the fight to Juba. It will be a matter of time and the government of Salva Kiir will be dismantled”, he said.

Garang, the first senior army officer to openly protest against the continued detention of the former army chief of staff, decried the manner in which those loyal to the latter were allegedly mistreated.

He cited delayed payment of soldiers for “more than seven months” and discrimination of other tribes as key reasons why he rebelled.

The four-year civil war has split the country into a patchwork of fiefdoms, created Africa’s biggest refugee crisis in two decades and led to ethnic cleansing. A third of the 12 million-strong population has fled their homes and half are dependent on humanitarian food aid.

Kiir in May fired Awan, whom United Nations investigators accused of directing ethnic militias responsible for the rape, torture and murder of civilians. Already on United States sanctions list, Awan briefly fled north, but returned to Juba, where he remains under house arrest.

Last weekend, pro-government troops, acting on orders, surrounded Awan’s house in Juba and unsuccessfully attempted to disarm his bodyguards. Until now, an armed standoff continues outside his house.

(ST)