Africa-Press – South-Sudan. South Sudan’s former opposition chief of staff General Simon Gatwech Dual’s group is claiming that a heavily-armed force belonging to First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny has arrived at Tonja, a coastal town in Upper Nile state, to attack SPLA-IO forces loyal to General Gatwech there.
“The office of information for Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition SPLA (IO), under the command of interim Chairman and Commander in Chief, (C-in-C), Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual, has just received a live report from Tonga military garrison, about the arrival of thirty two (32) Barges at Tonga, the SPLA (IO) stronghold this afternoon,” Brigadier-General William Gatjiath Deng, the spokesman of the SPLA-IO Kitgwang faction said in a statement extended to Sudans Post.
“Therefore, seventeen among the (32) barges which are heavily mounted with rocket launchers such as recoils, RPGs, Machine guns, 12.7 and PKMs, have now stopped behind at (Lake No) and the other (23) barges carrying huge unarmed young men who believed to be reinforcement to the paralyzed forces of Dr. Riek Machar, who are now lingering around at the rings of the Sudanese border in Northern Upper,” he added.
The holdout opposition mouthpiece further said “Now, all these (23) barges have already fall under the control of the SPLA (IO) gallant forces and they must be subjected to general inspection to know what are they carrying inside the barges and also how and why, these huge unarmed civilians going at once?”
“The SPLM/A (IO) under the leadership of the interim Chairman and Commander in Chief, (C-in-C) General Simon Gatwech Dual, has warned such move which organized by Dr. Riek Machar and those who wanted to destabilize the country.
“The leadership also informed the IGAD, AU, Troika and the wider international community, to take critical observation on the current situation.”
