South Sudan army says it clashed with SPLM-DC militia Article Comments (6) Email PrintSave --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Ngor Arol Garang March 6, 2011 (ABYEI) - Heavy fighting involving forces belonging to the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), South Sudan’s official army and armed elements, the SPLA claim are affiliated to opposition party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement for Democratic Change (SPLM-DC), broke out in Upper Nile state on Sunday according to military officials and local politicians. The SPLM-DC have denied that they are in anyway related to the militia involved in the fighting or have affiliations to any other armed groups in the South. SPLM-DC was formed by veteran Sudanese politician Lam Akol in 2009 as a breakaway faction of the SPLM the political wing of the SPLA, the former rebel movement, which fought a two-decade civil war against successive Khartoum governments. As part of the 2005 peace deal that ended the conflict the SPLA became the official army of South Sudan and the SPLM the ruling party. The South is due to become independent in July after a referendum held earlier this year. After the 2005 peace deal Akol served as Sudan’s foreign minister but was recalled by the SPLM reportedly because of his perceived closeness to the Khartoum government. Sunday’s fighting took place in a village near Owuac locality in an area in the southern state of Upper Nile predominantly home to members of Akol’s Shilluk ethnic group. Speaking to Sudan Tribune from Malakal, capital of Upper Nile state’s minister of information, Peter Lam Both, said that the militia was loyal to Lam Akol. "Yes, I am told there was a clash involving SPLA forces and armed elements associated with Oliny in one of the villages around Owuac locality. Oliny is known to be an armed militia leader commanding groups loyal to Lam Akol," Both said. "He was one of the groups covered by the amnesty issued by the president of the government of South Sudan in October and we told him to relocate from Malakal to division seven because we wanted the town to be free from hosting armed groups", said the minister. However, Both did not give any further details of the clash and it is unclear who, or what, triggered the fighting. Colonel Phillip Aguer, spokesman of the SPLA said the clash took place but did not give the name the militia group the army had clashed with. "Yes, there was a fighting in one of the villages around Owuac between 11am to 12pm between our forces and armed elements identified to be associated with a pro-Khartoum based government militia. It is Khartoum that supports this militia group with arms I am told associated also with Lam Akol", Aguer said. Witnesses who spoke to Sudan Tribune by telephone, with the sound gunfire in the background, described the fight as one of the heaviest clashes they had seen in the area. The witnesses said that an armed group attacked residents from the village and set fire to many of the buildings. "It just occurred as we were leaving back [from] Owuac to Malakal. The soldiers had quarreled in the morning before we came. We did not know there were quarrels and the cause of it. We became to know from some of our friends and residents who told us to return to Malakal because they said they were sensing something between the two armed groups", said Peter Odwuok, a student from Upper Nile University. Sandra Bona Malual, secretary general of the SPLM-DC in a separate interview with Sudan Tribune rejected the claims that the leader of her party has militia groups loyal to him. "As an individual and as the leader of the political party, I do not know armed groups operating in the South and loyal to him [Akol]. The SPLM-DC is a registered political party. We do not have armed groups loyal to us." Malual said that in the past her party had been wrongly accused of being associated to militia in Upper Nile, giving the example of when a group of armed men killed a Shilluk chief in May 2010. The SPLM-DC secretary general said that the May 2010 incident and the clash on Sunday are being used to smear her party. (ST) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
