Keji Janefer
Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The Chief Whip of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly, Rebecca Okwachi, alleged a plan by a suspected armed group to attack communities in Upper Nile State.
Okwachi, who also hails from Upper Nile, told the August House on Monday that the white army is organising to attack the region and this needs to be averted.
She alleged that the same attackers targeted a displaced persons camp in September 2022. According to Okwachi, the attack was not conducted by the forces of Gen. Simon Gatwech or Gen. Johnson Olony as earlier reported.
“These same people who were displaced from Adidiang and the team that came and displaced them is something called ‘‘white army.” These are people who are armed and they are also in military uniform. “
She further alleged, “The same white army continued to devastate the whole of Panyikang County. They pushed the civilians up to Malakal County, and they continued up to Fashoda County.
‘‘We are also informed that there are children, especially girls who are underage, who have been taken away.’’
She added that the King of Chollo Kingdom, Kwongo Dak Padiet, had been displaced from the palace—an incident she described as “very disturbing”.
“We need to know that there is another rumour of mobilisation…It is the responsibility of the government and people to ensure that those who are supposed to come home and settle are not displaced over and over.”
“I want to give this information for us to know what is happening in the area, hoping that this rumour of another mobilization of thousands of white army …should not continue with the devastation that has happened in the area,” she remarked.
UN condemns attacks
On September 9, 2022, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) issued a statement condemning an attack by armed elements on internally displaced people seeking refuge on Adidiang island, located about 40 kilometres south of the state capital, Malakal.
According to the agency, a number of fleeing civilians may have drowned in the Nile River, and up to 5,000 civilians may have fled to the site as a result of deadly fighting between rival armed groups in Tonga—further west of Malakal.
The agency warned that the attack had also triggered violent intercommunal clashes among some internally displaced persons within the UNMISS protection of civilians (POC) site.
In August, Edmund Yakani, a local civil activist called for an end to the conflict in Upper Nile State to stop what he termed a potential “genocide” among the forces that have split between Johnson Olony and Simon Gatwech.
Yakani described the conflict as “a war of forgotten warlords fighting within their territory.”
He urged the Sudanese government to intervene and stop the fighting between the two generals in Upper Nile as a peace mediator between the armed forces and SSPDF.
Heavy fighting broke out on August 14, 2022, in Tonga town and surrounding areas in Panyikang County, Upper Nile State. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, over 27, 000 people were displaced to Agunjuok near Malakal town (UNOCHA).
A week ago, the Council of Ministers declared a ceasefire in the State and referred the conflict in the Upper Nile to the Presidency, describing it as complex.
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