Africa-Press – South-Sudan. By Yiep Joseph
The South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) on Saturday detained SPLM/A-IO appointed Minister of Mining Martin Gama Abuchain Loaalong the Juba-Nimule highway in what has been described as a breach of the 2018 peace agreement.
Puok Both Baluang, press secretary of the First Vice President and leader of the opposition Sudan’s People’s Liberation Movement/A-In Opposition (SPLM/A-IO), Dr. RiekMachar Teny, said the minister was arrested and detained for hours while on his way to Uganda for the private mission.
The official said the minister was later set free on the same day and proceeded to Uganda after the top leadership of the opposition party intervened.
“I confirm that the Minister of Mining Martin Abucha was arrested on Saturday but the situation was resolved after the intervention from the leadership of SPLM/A-IO.Abucha has been released and proceeded with his journey,” MrBaluangsaid.
The official said the detention was contrary to the spirit of cooperation among the parties to the Revitalized Peace Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan(R-ARCSS), accusing the SSPDF of unlawfully arresting the minister.
“He was detained for four hours and later released, the reasons for arresting the minister were unlawful and were not revealed to us,” he said.
“This is a violation and is one of the reasons we have been calling for quick implementation of the security arrangement, A national minister can’t be detained by the army regardless of whatever the reasons maybe,” he stated.
“If there is any violation it should be reported to the line commanders of the security forces and they are the ones who will take responsibility for that. There will be an investigation into the matter to find out whether the reasons that were cited in that report by the security or the army were genuine,” he said.
Efforts by Juba Monitor to reach SSPDF for comments were unsuccessful as several calls made to the army spokesperson Major General Lul Ruai Koang went unanswered.
The National Police Spokesperson Major General Daniel Justin however told Juba Monitor he had heard about the arrest on social media but not through official communication.“ We do not comment on matters that are not official”, he added
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