Africa-Press – South-Sudan. A group military commanders belonging to South Sudan’s main armed Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) has been abducted by suspected South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) elements, according to the group’s representative to the joint ceasefire monitoring body CTSAMVM.
This comes following the kidnapping of SPLA-IO commander in Juba last month who was on a visit to his family at the former United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) civil protection site. The SPLA-IO has in the pass accused the SSPDF and the National Security Service of kidnaping their members.
Speaking during the technical meeting of the Ceasefire Transitional Security Arrangement Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (CTSAMVM) at Dembesh Hotel in Juba on Thursday, Maj. Gen. Martin Abucha, the SPLA-IO representative to the peace monitoring body, said trust was hard to forge given the continued kidnapping of their commanders.
“Today we have come here again to review what has happened in the last month. I am glad to see ceasefire holding as reported, but I am still disappointed that there are still violations, specifically arrest, torture, detention of, particularly SPLA-IO officers,” he said.
“The incident in Easter Equatoria State reminds us that our colleagues on the other side are not truthful to us. They continue to arrest our officers and we don’t know where they are. Unfortunately, in Western Equatoria State, one of our officers, a member of CTSAMVM, was tortured very, very badly,” he added.
For his part, the chairperson of CTSAMVM Maj. Gen. Teshome Gemechu Aderie, confirmed the incidents in Eastern Equatoria State, saying it constituted a violation of the agreement by the SSPDF.
“Our briefing also includes one violation report concerning the arrest and detention of one SPLM/A-IO officer as well as two civilians by SSPDF in Eastern Equatoria in September 2021. These actions by the SSPDF constitute a violation of the R-ARCSS,” Maj. Gen. Gemechu said.
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