Africa-Press – South-Sudan. South Sudan’s holdout opposition South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA) led by General Cirilo Swaka has said that the 2013 killing of ethnic Nuer civilians by state-affiliated militias is a result of failure of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) to govern the country saying President Salva Kiir’s leadership is behind the Juba killings and the revenge killings that followed.
South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, plunged into a deadly ethnic violence in December 2013 after members of a militia group went door-to-door killing thousands of Nuer civilians triggering mutinies and splits within the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), the then national army, leading to a civil war that has since been fought along ethnic lines.
In a statement marking eights anniversary of the December 2013 Juba massacre, the SSOMA said it mounts with the people of South Sudan the lives of those who died as result of the Juba killings saying the deadliest ethnic targeting in South Sudan’s history will remain a scar from then moving forward.
“The South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA) commemorates 15th December 2013, one of the saddest and most painful days in the history of our nascent nation and in the hearts of every South Sudanese. On that day thousands of innocent people were killed in Juba South Sudan because of their ethnic affiliation. This day will remain a scar in the annals of our history,” SSOMA statement reads in part.
“Today 15th December 2021, SSOMA is remembering every innocent South Sudanese who was killed in cold blood on that fateful day in 2013 and the subsequent revenge atrocities that occurred and continue to take place in the country until now,” it added.
The statement said the government of President Salva Kiir Mayardit is responsible for the killing and the ongoing ethnic violence in the country, saying the 2013 killings and subsequent massacres committed as a revenge are a result of a failure, by the ruling SPLM party, to govern the country and as such the government of President Salva Kiir Mayardit is responsible for the violence.
“SSOMA and the people of South Sudan holds the regime of Salva Kiir and the SPLM responsible for the loss of those innocent lives and calls for justice accountability for the lives lost. The SPLM’s immense failure in governance and culture of violence plunged the country into destruction and has led to the loss of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives. The failed governing party in South Sudan has been overseeing ethnic violence and forced millions of innocent fellow countrymen and women into PoC sites, and in the refugee camps in the neighboring countries,” the statement said.
The statement further said the holdout opposition alliance which comprises of eight holdout opposition groups is committed to addressing the root causes of the conflict including those that led to the December 2013 killings.
“SSOMA envision South Sudan to be a peaceful country for every South Sudanese to enjoy and live free. Therefore, we are committed to addressing the root causes of the conflict in the country to bring about sustainable peace and to end all forms of impunity. Through addressing the root causes of the conflict in the country, the people of South Sudan shall live in harmony and never again shall ethnic affiliation be a death sentence,” it said.
“SSOMA extends condolences to the families and loved ones of the deceased and prays that the LORD gives them and the people of South Sudan strength and hope for a new dawn of change and transformation,” it added.
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