SPLA-IO, Lou-Nuer mobilizing to counter-attack Pibor – group
SPLA-IO forces holds up their guns during military parade in Juba before J1 dogfight (Photo credit: AP)
June 2, 2020 (SSNN) – South Sudan’s SPLA-IO is reportedly preparing to wage a counter-attack against the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) following last month’s attack on several areas of the Greater Akobo.
In May, heavily armed Murle youth attacked several parts of Akobo killing over 300 people and walked away with a huge number of cattle before the cattle could be returned.
In a statement extended to South Sudan News Now (SSNN) this afternoon, Dr. hakim Dario, the chairperson of the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM), said they were dismayed to hear the reports that arrangements between the SPLA-IO and the Lou-Nuer were ongoing to attack Pibor.
“The People’s Democratic Movement has learned with great dismay of ongoing tension and threat of renewed violence and confrontations in Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA),” Dario said in the statement.
“Incoming reports have cited a large SPLM/A-IO militia force together with members of the white army from Lou Nuer and Dinka Bor militia, who are said to be mobilizing and advancing towards the GPAA for revenge attacks against Murle, even when SPLA-IO forces are signatories to the (CoHA) under the terms of the R-ARCSS, and are therefore technically understood to be stationary in their training camps and cantonment sites for unification of forces,” the statement added.
The statement said the group was “deeply perturbed about the unabated threat and escalation of violence in GPAA with further revenge attacks while the state and administrative area governments have not been formed in the country.”
The statement further urged for a “urgent intervention of CTSAMVM and UNMISS on the ground to raise alarm and mobilize appropriate interventions to avert violence. Meanwhile the IGAD countries, AU and the UNSEC are called upon to unreservedly condemn the violence and take measures to swiftly abate and stop the looming violence in its track.”
“There is high risk of further damage to the social fabric and relations in South Sudan between the neighboring Murle, Dinka Bor and Lou Nuer communities as a result of this conflict, which would take years, possibly decades to repair if not swiftly addressed to avert the escalating violence that the inept R-TGONU in Juba is unable and impotent to effectively prevent.
“In the absence of the failed and impotent Juba Government, PDM calls upon our Murle, Lou Nuer and Dinka Bor peoples and communities to urgently convene Upper Nile People-to-People Convention for peace and for their peaceful co-existence with each other, not just in Upper Nile but with all the people’s of South Sudan in Equatoria and Bahr al Ghazal.
“President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar, the lead parties charged with implementing R-ARCSS must be held responsible for their failures to avert the civil wars between the Murle, Lou Nuer and Dinka Bor of Upper Nile which has gone on for far too long.”
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